Next Ayatollah Up
Iran will soon have a new Supreme Leader. For now.
BBC live (“Iran’s new supreme leader elected – Iranian media“):
Ahmad Alamolhoda, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, has said that the election for the next leader has been held and the leader has been elected.
He has said that now all depends on the head of the Secretariat of the Assembly of Experts, Hosseini Bushehri, who is currently responsible for publicly announcing the decision, the semi-official Mehr news agency reports.
Reuters (“Israeli military says it will pursue every successor of Iran’s Khamenei“):
The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for Khamenei, referring to the clerical body charged with choosing the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.
There is a certain “third-ranking member of al Qaeda” quality to this. I suspect a major reason it has taken so long to name a successor is the difficulty in finding someone who wants to be the prime target of the Israeli and American war effort.
Trump demands unconditional surrender and executes any Iranian theoretically capable of surrendering.
Trump has no plan. If Iran can manage to fire a missile toward Dubai every week or so, Dubai will be finished as a tourist and expat destination. If Iran can build and launch a dozen drones and require the US or Israel to fire off a pair of Patriots at $4 million each, we will lose the endurance battle. We are a rich country but spending $8 million to knock down a $20K drone is too expensive even for us.
Simple brutes like Trump cannot wrap their heads around an Iranian culture of martyrdom for the faith. If we start with a million Iranians in one form of military/militia/security force or another, and we kill 10%, will the remaining 90% give up? Iranians may be an odd parallel of Japanese Imperial troops – true believers who see more honor in death than in surrender. Except we won’t have an Iranian comp for Hirohito.
@Michael Reynolds:
He is going to “obliterate” 96m Iranians. You know, within a couple of weeks. lol
But minor quibble…he’s not a brute. He’s an insecure old man w a tiny cock and the worlds most powerful military.
@Daryl:
How about “he’s a brutish insecure old man with a tiny cock”?
@CSK:
I guarantee if you confronted Fatso he would fold like a cheap lawn chair. He’s not Putin. He’s not Xi.
Brute-wannabe?
I’ll give you that.
@Michael Reynolds:
It’s the Israelis who are swearing to off any leader.
If Iran were to surrender today how would Trump keep the destruction and associated expenditure going? The Israelis have good reason to fear Congress balking. About half the MAGAs are pissed off already.
Ayatollah Khamenei is dead. Long live Ayatollah Khamenei. Per The Guardian.