After Ali Khamenei’s death, power in Iran shifted not toward moderates, but toward still harder-line radicals.
A central role in a system increasingly dominated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was taken by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
The war did not open space for compromise—on the contrary, it strengthened the position of the most uncompromising factions.
The new leadership is acting more repressively at home—suppressing any dissent—and more aggressively abroad, showing little interest in diplomacy.
Among the central figures in this configuration are Ahmad Vahidi and Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, men with a history of violence and sharply anti-Israel and anti-Western rhetoric.