Apr 15, 2021
The struggle to succeed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is
growing intense. Its outcome will have significant consequences for
Iran, the Middle East, and the US. Khamenei’s health has been
failing for years, and his retirement or passing seems increasingly
imminent. Current indicators suggest that his successor will be
more hardline and less willing or able to rein in the aggressive
instincts of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. In this
episode of Overwatch, Nicholas Heras, Director of Government
Relations at ISW, and Nicholas Carl, the Iran Team Lead at the
Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute,
discuss the leading candidates to succeed Khamenei, their policy
views on engaging with the United States and the West, and how the
process of picking the next Supreme Leader could affect US policy
on Iran.