Farnaz Fassihi

and next door to him was a high-profile meeting of basically all the senior military commands strategizing for the war.

Well, I think that it's possible that they got a little complacent, that they got a little sloppy.

I think that they calculated that strikes would happen in the middle of the night, not at 9.30, 10 a.m.,

on a workday where lots of children were in school and people were at work.

And they thought that they had a window to congregate and plan for attacks that they thought might be imminent in the middle of the night.

And I think they miscalculated gravely.

And what many Iranian officials now say is that Mr. Khamenei had refused to leave his home and his compound and had indicated to people around him that if he's going to get attacked and war starts, he would rather become a martyr.

I think that in his mind, his legacy would be better protected if he was seen as somebody who was not in hiding, was not afraid to

Whereas if he would have the fate of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and get captured, or if his regime would be toppled, he would be humiliated, right?

So I think there was this desire by him to have the kind of ending that he envisioned and he wanted.

It represents a massive blow to the regime.

Putting Mr. Khamenei aside, they killed the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, the defense minister, and some other senior officials.

But Mr. Khamenei had planned for this possibility.

He had instructed everyone in leadership roles to name four layers of succession.

Yes, exactly.

The state moved very swiftly to project a sense of control and orderly transition while they name a successor for the Supreme Leader.

That seems to be where things are standing.

Right now, as of Sunday afternoon, the regime is still in control of Iran.

We haven't seen any major defections.

They are still in control of security on the streets.