John Bickley

What is the reaction on the ground there to his death?

Yeah, I wanted to ask you specifically about that, his very strict, rigid regime and his method of rule.

There was a fundamentalist Islamic aspect to it, of course.

What are some of the defining characteristics of his reign?

One follow-up to that, particularly the treatment of women under his regime.

There's been a lot of reports about the specific laws, marriage laws, as it applies to women, women in the workforce, etc.

What was it like for women under his reign?

Right.

Now, who exactly will fill the power vacuum in the long term remains to be seen, of course.

But even just with the fact that Khomeini is now out of the picture, how might that change things in the country now?

And we have heard that not just the next level of leadership, but maybe a few levels down have been completely wiped out.

That's what Trump is saying.

Of course, there's a lot that's hard to confirm at this point.

But who do we know right now in terms of who is calling the shots in Iran?

Well, as we've seen, that approach can last for decades.

Let's hope those days are done.

Benham, thank you so much for coming on.

We really appreciate your expertise.

President Trump is standing firm on his hardline approach with Tehran.

In a Truth Social post today, he declared there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender, which he of course wrote in all caps.