Carnegie Endowment 115d ago

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed almost a week ago — so who’s running the country? Will Iranians seek change in the streets, despite the brutal crackdown they faced in January? Could Kurdish militias march on Tehran under U.S. and Israeli air cover? Should Westerners trust exiled oppositionists like former crown prince Reza Pahlavi? Karim Sadjadpour is one of the few people who can answer these questions. On this special episode of The World Unpacked, Karim and host Jon Bateman go inside Tehran’s power structure as the Islamic Republic faces one of the greatest crises in its 47-year history. Like and subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/38sljlH Find the episode transcript and streaming audio, and get the show direct to your inbox, here: https://carnegieendowment.org/podcasts/the-world-unpacked/whos-running-iran Host: Follow Jon on X: https://x.com/JonKBateman Guest: Karim Sadjadpour — https://x.com/ksadjadpour Chapters: 00:00 Iran in Chaos 01:27 Iran Under Fire 01:28 Who Runs Iran? 02:02 Power Vacuum 04:14 Regime Under Pressure 07:00 Survival vs Ideology 09:52 Khamenei’s Son Next? 13:03 Why No Reform 14:56 The China Model 16:08 U.S. Leadership Plan? 18:32 U.S.–Israel Strategy 20:17 Trump vs Netanyahu 22:14 Regime Change Chances 24:05 Why No Uprising 25:28 The 10% Rule 28:37 Security Forces Loyalty 31:13 Iran’s Exiled Prince 34:52 Pahlavi’s Support 38:45 Trump Calls Kurds 44:39 Arming Kurdish Groups 49:15 Iran’s War Strategy 52:41 Limited Retaliation 54:26 War End Scenarios 59:40 “Mow the Grass” 01:02:11 Iran’s Future The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace generates strategic ideas and independent analysis, supports diplomacy, and trains the next generation of international scholar-practitioners to help countries and institutions take on the most difficult global problems and advance peace. Visit our website: https://carnegieendowment.org/ Follow us on X: https://x.com/CarnegieEndow Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carnegieendow/