The attacks by United States and Israeli forces on the Iranian regime had no clear objective and no basis in international law. Nevertheless, if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the clerical ruler who transformed Iran into one of the Middle East’s dominant powers, was killed by US-Israeli strikes on Saturday, we are waking up to a new reality.
What usually happens with a policy of “decapitation” is that dangerous leaders are replaced by even more dangerous hardliners. Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu had no good reason to suppose that the outcome in Iran would be any different.
