The U.S. and Israel proceed to bombard Iran following the dying of its supreme chief. On the similar time, Iran is firing its personal missiles at surrounding Gulf States and components of the Center East in retaliation.
With each side vowing to proceed, persons are questioning whether or not a wider regional battle is feasible and what could possibly be subsequent for Iran since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in Saturday’s assaults.
“When you don’t put boots on the bottom, who does (U.S. President) Donald Trump assume the Iranian Revolutionary Guard goes at hand its weapons to,” questioned Jon Allen, a senior fellow on the Invoice Graham Centre for Modern Worldwide Historical past on the College of Toronto. “Regime change? Up within the air.”
On Sunday, Trump known as on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and army police to put down their arms or face dying.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian mentioned in a prerecorded message {that a} new management council had already begun its work. The nation’s overseas minister, Abbas Araghchi, mentioned a brand new supreme chief can be chosen in “one or two days.”
With its chief gone, specialists say, the regime will intention to painting a way of “stability and continuity,” however behind the scenes there may be doubtless instability.
“(The regime is) going to do its greatest to retaliate to the diploma it will possibly, to be able to do two issues,” mentioned Ross Harrison, a senior fellow on the Center East Institute in Washington, D.C. “One is to point out that the regime can inflict injury on its adversaries, and quantity two, to point out that the area continues to be in management.
“It’s actually a struggle for survival of the regime and for inflicting as a lot injury because the regime can to be able to change the calculus of its adversaries.”
Get each day Nationwide information
Get the day’s high information, political, financial, and present affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox as soon as a day.
He advised International Information there might be “extra of the identical” within the coming days, and that Iran will doubtless speed up its assaults on Israel, hoping to trigger probably the most injury from missiles that make it by way of that nation’s “Iron Dome” defences. He added that almost all of the assaults will doubtless be in opposition to U.S. bases and property within the area, in addition to Israel.
Protesters within the nation, nonetheless, stay defiant with many having celebrated Khamenei’s dying on Saturday.
An finish to the regime is troublesome to find out, however Burcu Ozcelik with the Royal United Providers Institute mentioned there may be at the least one attainable aim.
“The aim of attempting to create the situations on the bottom inside Iran whereby an alternate type of authorities would possibly emerge at the least for the transition interval till Iran achieves some stage of stabilization.”
The U.S. and Israel have indicted there might be no decelerate of their efforts, with Israel on Sunday saying there can be a “continuous air practice” of strikes in opposition to Iranian army and management targets.
Trump has additionally mentioned heavy bombing will proceed “uninterrupted all through the week or, so long as essential.”
Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, advised International Information the aim of the operation was to take away “existential threats” from Iran. However he added assist could possibly be supplied to Iranians to help in a regime change.
“I believe that we will speak about traces that help the Iranians with means, maybe, to create a regime change,” he mentioned. “It’s for the Iranian individuals, and that is additionally the message that was very clearly mentioned by Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu the opposite day, that we need to see a peaceable Iran residing side-by-side with the remainder of the area.”
The U.S.-Israel operation is one thing to look at, mentioned Nejar Mojtahedi, an Iranian-Canadian journalist. She mentioned she expects the operation to unfold in levels.
“Primary, decapitate the management of the regime,” she advised International Information. “Quantity two is to degrade the army defence functionality of the regime to allow them to’t retaliate as sturdy as they wish to.”
Mojtahedi mentioned stage three would see an effort to degrade Iran’s financial system, and the fourth can be to permit the Iranian individuals to take over the nation.
In his preliminary announcement in regards to the marketing campaign by the U.S. and Israel, Trump known as for Iranians to stand up and “take over” their authorities.
He reiterated that decision on Sunday on Reality Social.
“I name upon all of the radiant patriots who yearn for freedom to grab this second to be courageous, be daring, be heroic, and take again your nation,” Trump mentioned. “America is with you. I made a promise to you, and I fulfilled that promise. The remaining might be as much as you, however we’ll be there to assist.”
Trump didn’t elaborate on how the U.S. would assist.
—with information from International Information’ Jeff Semple, Jen Palma and Jazan Grewal-Pabla
© 2026 International Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
