{"id":2616795,"date":"2026-06-21T05:11:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/irans-leadership-emerges-from-war-battered-and-transformed\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T05:14:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:14:45","slug":"irans-leadership-emerges-from-war-battered-and-transformed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/irans-leadership-emerges-from-war-battered-and-transformed\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s leadership emerges from war battered and transformed"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Firans-leadership-emerges-from-war-battered-and-transformed%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2616795&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Iran\u2019s leadership claims victory in its war with the united States and Israel, asserting it has emerged stronger and more resilient. However, the conflict has substantially damaged the regime, weakening its military, economy, and political structure.Iran suffered devastating military losses, with an estimated thousands of personnel killed-far exceeding U.S. and Israeli casualties-highlighting the lopsided nature of the war. Critical infrastructure was targeted and heavily damaged, undermining Iran\u2019s military capabilities and its regional influence, notably through the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>Politically, Iran experienced a dramatic shift. The decapitation strikes led too the killing of key leaders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, prompting a rapid restructuring of its power hierarchy. The regime moved from a hierarchical, theocratic system to a more fragmented, &#8220;flat&#8221; leadership with parallel power centers and militarized control, reducing the influence of traditional clerics. This transformation has led to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-iran-transformed-from-a-theocracy-to-a-military-led-dictatorship\/\" title=\"How Iran transformed from a theocracy to a ...-... dictatorship\">de facto military dictatorship<\/a>, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) consolidating much of the power and economic assets, making the regime more corrupt and mafia-like.<\/p>\n<p>Ideologically, the war has shifted Iran away from the revolutionary ideals established by Khomeini towards a focus on Iranian nationalism and military strength. The legitimacy of the clerical establishment has diminished,and Iran\u2019s government now relies more on military and security institutions for survival. Some experts believe this new structure may be temporary, with the regime perhaps regaining hierarchical cohesion once the crisis subsides, but the current state mark a profound change in Iran\u2019s political and ideological landscape.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/iran\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"100\">Iran<\/a>\u2018s leadership has pitched its war with the United States and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/israel\" type=\"link\" id=\"washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/israel\">Israel<\/a> as a triumph, emerging stronger and more resolute than ever, but the damage inflicted by the war may have fundamentally <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4508418\/iran-transform-islamic-republic-military-dictatorship\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4508418\/iran-transform-islamic-republic-military-dictatorship\/\">transformed the regime<\/a> for the worse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding was signed on Thursday, both sides quickly maneuvered to present the conflict as a victory. Tehran went beyond claiming it had achieved victory simply through survival, arguing it brought the U.S. and Israel to their knees and emerged stronger than ever.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4617650\/zelensky-stripped-poland-highest-honor\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Zelensky stripped of Poland\u2019s highest honor after honoring controversial nationalist group<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4617561\/vance-us-iran-talk-sunday-switzerland-flux\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Vance says US-Iran talks will start Sunday in Switzerland but situation is \u2018in flux\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4617543\/meloni-trump-attacks-senseless-defend-italy-national-interest\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Meloni calls Trump\u2019s attacks \u2018senseless\u2019 and says she will \u2018defend Italy\u2019s national interest\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Janatan Sayeh, an Iranian-born dissident and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/economists-bidens-policies-to-lift-oil-and-gas-prices-hurt-u-s-households\/\" title=\"Economists: Biden\u2019s policies to lift oil and gas prices, hurt U.S. households\">research analyst<\/a> with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies\u2019s Iran Program, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> Tehran probably genuinely believes it won, but only because of its low bar for success.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe bar for success to the Islamic Republic was survival. So being able to survive as a regime is a win for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite this self-perception, the war has weakened the government in several key ways, some of which they may not recover anytime soon, depending on postwar agreements.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-a-battered-military\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">A battered military<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The long interlude between the April ceasefire and the MOU focused much of the public discussion on the war\u2019s economic effects and diplomatic negotiations. Nearly four months out from the start of Operation Epic Fury, the staggering scale of Iranian casualties often goes under the radar.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2026 war with Iran made history as one of, if not the most, lopsided armed conflict in modern history in terms of material and personnel losses. If counting only those killed by direct fire from one of the three main belligerents, the U.S. lost seven soldiers killed to Iranian fire and Israel lost nine, according to the latest official releases.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By comparison, Iran suffered 6,000 killed military and security personnel, according to an Israeli intelligence estimate from mid-March. Three more weeks of intense bombing took place after this estimate was put out, meaning the real total is likely thousands higher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/hengaw.net\/en\/reports-and-statistics-1\/2026\/04\/article-3\">calculated<\/a> that at least 6,620 military personnel were killed, another likely undercount given the internet blackout and restrictions on recording losses. Given the regime\u2019s secrecy, the true number of dead may not be known for some time.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To put in perspective just how lopsided the casualties were, taking the undercount of 6,000 Iranians dead, roughly 375 Iranian military personnel were killed for every single U.S. and Israeli soldier. This ratio is unparalleled in any modern conflict, dwarfing even the Gulf War.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The damage to Iran\u2019s defense and security infrastructure was just as bad, if not worse. Guards\u2019 bases, Basij centers, military airports, missile launchers and storage sites, police stations, judicial centers, intelligence centers, Guards\u2019 barracks, radars, air defense batteries, drone production and storage sites, and other critical infrastructure built up over decades were heavily targeted and destroyed, much of which was likely irreplaceable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMost military hardware has a use-life measured in decades, and rebuilding Iran\u2019s nuclear program, missile production infrastructure, and naval fleet would require, not only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blumenthal-says-theres-a-real-risk-in-pga-and-liv-merger-want-to-get-to-the-bottom-of-it\/\" title=\"Blumenthal ...ns of &#039;real risk&#039; in PGA and LIV merger, vows to investigate.\">substantial financial resources<\/a>, but time, technical expertise, and supply chains that U.S. sanctions have already severely constrained,\u201d FDD\u2019s Center on Economic and Financial Power senior research analyst Daniel Swift and FDD\u2019s CEFP senior director Elaine Dezenski wrote in a May <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4560683\/estimated-iranian-economic-damage-war-cost\/\">report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iran\u2019s major card was its blockade of the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/strait-of-hormuz\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"21488\">Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, which was made possible due to the country\u2019s presence on the vital waterway. Shipping came to a halt mainly because shipping insurance companies were unwilling to insure vessels traversing the strait, meaning Iran only had to scatter a relatively small number of mines and make a few symbolic drone attacks to effectively bring shipping to a halt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iran\u2019s Guards were able to build up a reputation for competency and effectiveness over decades of operations in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere, positioning it for years as one of the most effective military powers in the region. Its one-sided destruction and overall poor performance in the war have shattered this aura, and will color its perception for years to come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of equal, related importance is the damage done to Iran\u2019s economy from the war and blockade, damage totaling in the hundreds of billions. In its current state, Sayeh said Iran \u201cabsolutely\u201d cannot rebuild its military or economy to anything approaching prewar standards, and could only partially reconstitute its economy if it pursues that end at the expense of everything else.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-26\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"h-a-restructured-government\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">A restructured government<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The opening of Operation Epic Fury saw a decapitation strike on Iran, with Israel and the U.S. killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iran\u2019s ruler for decades, and nearly all senior military and civilian leaders. The killings forced a rapid adaptation of Iran\u2019s entire political system, one that had solidified over decades, in mere days, while under fire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iran had slowly shifted from being an Islamic Republic run by a Shiite cleric into something bordering on a military dictatorship beginning when Khamenei took power, as he increasingly empowered the Guards to make up for the questionable loyalty of the clerical establishment. Before the war began, most analysts viewed the Guards as the main power base in Iran, and that they would likely choose the next supreme leader.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The success of the decapitation strikes accelerated this process, but the pressure also upended the preexisting Iranian hierarchy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iran had a contingency plan for the decapitation strikes, delegating power and decision-making authority to local commanders in the event of command-and-control breakdown, a strategy known as mosaic defense. While the strategy served the regime well in the short term, it also has the potential to completely restructure Iran\u2019s politics in a more dysfunctional manner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Fahil A. Abdulkareem, a professor at Iraq\u2019s Duhok Polytechnic University, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/manaramagazine.org\/2026\/06\/irans-hierarchical-to-flat-leadership\/?elementor-preview=16732&#038;ver=1781024029#_edn7\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/manaramagazine.org\/2026\/06\/irans-hierarchical-to-flat-leadership\/?elementor-preview=16732&#038;ver=1781024029#_edn7\">argued<\/a> in <em>Manara Magazine<\/em> that the delegation of power had transformed Iran from a vertical power system to a \u201cflat\u201d power system, where several parallel power centers rule almost equally.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile Iran\u2019s sovereign decision-making apparatus was characterised for decades by a hierarchical structure governing its decision-making mechanisms, this leadership system \u2026 transformed into a flattened command structure after the recent 40-day war,\u201d he wrote, arguing that this system encompassed both the political and military system, which became \u201cheadless\u201d after Khamenei\u2019s killing. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe absence of top-tier leaders and the rise of dozens of mid-level commanders led to the collapse of the hierarchical system and the emergence of a broad network of leaders with comparable status and influence,\u201d Abdulkareem wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe rise of numerous parallel institutions, relatively equal in power and influence, and functioning in place of a single political institution, is a significant development. While the Iranian political establishment under the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a unified and highly cohesive entity, it transformed after his death into a collection of parallel institutions with limited interconnectedness,\u201d Abdulkareem argued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This transformation has been seen in the contradictory messaging from Tehran throughout the war. At several points, Guards-affiliated outlets issued harsh rebukes to decisions from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian or other insufficiently hard-line leaders they opposed, forcing the president to sometimes retract statements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conflicting power bases would also help explain Iran\u2019s over 70-member negotiating team representing the many different interests that traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, a detail noted by several outlets at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Professor Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute and expert on the Guard and succession politics in Iran, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4508418\/iran-transform-islamic-republic-military-dictatorship\/\">told<\/a> the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> in March that Iran was run by \u201ca <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mn-house-starts-third-week-of-inaction-due-to-democratic-boycott-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"MN House starts third week of inaction due to Democratic boycott - Washington Examiner\">power-sharing arrangement<\/a> within a five<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >-member collective leadership composed<\/a> of the president, the parliamentary speaker, the judiciary chief, and one representative each from the regular Army and the IRGC, either Mohsen Rezaei or Ahmad Vahidi.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though Iran is dominated by parallel power centers for the moment, not all are equal. Nearly all analysts agree that the Guards hold the most power in the country, and that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who was pushed through the election process by the Guards, is their figurehead. Ahmad Vahidi, who became commander in chief of the Guards after his predecessor\u2019s assassination on Feb. 28, is <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com\/ahmad-vahidi-commander-chief-of-irgc\">noted<\/a> as particularly influential in decision-making as one of the few people who meets with Mojtaba Khamenei individually, according to some reports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Iran emerges from the war, the leadership may find that its mosaic defense strategy could have opened Pandora\u2019s box. With the loss of Ali Khamenei\u2019s institutional momentum and Mojtaba Khamenei\u2019s lack of legitimacy, the new heads of the government may find it extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, to bring back the prewar power arrangement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other analysts view the situation differently. Sayeh argued the new distribution of power is unlikely to last once the crisis ends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs soon as the situation improves a little bit, the hierarchy certainly has to be there. Something as totalitarian as the Islamic Republic would never allow autonomy in any way, nor would it even really make sense,\u201d he argued, saying the status quo wouldn\u2019t make sense as a lasting structure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decapitation strike also depleted much of the regime\u2019s human capital, putting into power hard-liners who excel at repression but not much else. Hoover Institution research fellow and co-director of Stanford\u2019s Iran Democracy Project, Abbas Milani, argued in an April appearance on the Hoover Institution\u2019s <em>GoodFellows<\/em> podcast that some of the hard-liners now in charge were immensely incompetent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRezaei, who by all accounts has a Ph.D. in economics. I apologize to all the economists of the world, but he\u2019s a true imbecile, and was an imbecile when he was a commander of the [Guards], which almost put him on trial for crimes because he sent thousands of young Iranians to sure death because of his idiocies,\u201d Milani said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new government that emerges from the war is likely far out of its depth when handling the complicated matters of administration in a country whose economy has been in free fall for over a year.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-mask-comes-off\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The mask comes off<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While there\u2019s some disagreement as to where the shift is going, most analysts agree the war engineered a major ideological shift in Iran\u2019s ruling establishment. Iran had long been shifting away from the conservative ideology pioneered by the Islamic regime\u2019s founder, former Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, focused on religious authority, a universal Islamic revolution, and social conservatism, toward the Guards\u2019 fusion of Iranian nationalism with Shia Islam, more concerned with national security and much less focused on social legislation such as hijab enforcement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sayeh believes the war has essentially destroyed what was left of the clerical establishment\u2019s legitimacy and removed any window dressing suggesting the country wasn\u2019t a de facto military dictatorship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe structural shift is that I think less and less the Islamic Republic as a whole needs religious legitimacy. The idea was you need these ayatollahs, the range of them, to all of them coming from different committees to give the Guards some sort of a religious legitimacy, so they don\u2019t look like a military dictatorship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow that they know they\u2019re inherently legitimate, given the uprisings internally, it\u2019s just about survival at this point. We also entered a paradigm where the clergy rely on the [Guards] more so than the other way around,\u201d Sayeh continued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Milani agreed in his April appearance on the Hoover Institution\u2019s <em>GoodFellows<\/em> podcast, saying Iran \u201cis now in every sense of the word a military dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Sayeh argued there won\u2019t be much inter-elite fighting, as the Guards and the supreme leader\u2019s establishment \u201cdon\u2019t disagree on anything to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Milani argued another way to view the postwar shift is through the movement away from ideological fanaticism to corruption.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a corrupt ideological regime,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re now more corrupt than they\u2019re ideological. They want to keep property rights. The [Guards] literally control at least half the Iranian economy. Whoever takes Khamenei\u2019s place, the [Guards] de facto or de jure gets their hands on at least $100 billion of assets. This is a mafia-like regime that is going to try to stay in power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Milani pointed to Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, reportedly viewed by the Trump administration as a good interlocutor, as the \u201cmost corrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4508418\/iran-transform-islamic-republic-military-dictatorship\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"4508418\">HOW IRAN TRANSFORMED FROM AN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC TO A MILITARY DICTATORSHIP<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sayeh argued the best dichotomy through which to view the government is between the ideological and the survivalist, the latter denoting more pragmatic members who understand the gravity of the situation Iran is facing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The loss of a key pillar of legitimacy could bode poorly for the government in the near future, especially after it can\u2019t rely on a crisis for repressive measures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iran claims victory amid war damage and regime shifts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2616796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26110593751564.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[32404,3823,50402,53764,50434],"class_list":["post-2616795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-geopolitics","tag-iran","tag-leadership-2","tag-transformation-2","tag-war-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26110593751564.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2616795"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2616799,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616795\/revisions\/2616799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2616796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2616795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2616795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2616795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}