Farnaz Fassihi

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.

Their security apparatus are all over the capital.

They've set up checkpoints and stopping cars and doing surveillance.

Interesting.

They also seem to have maintained their military ability to retaliate and strike, still launching a barrage of ballistic missiles at U.S.

military targets.

They are attacking Israel and they are firing off missiles and drones to Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.

They wanted to make sure that there's no power vacuum.

And at the moment, we're not seeing any evidence of a power vacuum.

Well, the majority of Iranian people have said that they want this regime toppled, that they want a new Iran.

But right now, I think the priority for many Iranians is to find safety under bombs and to...