Nargis Bajoli

That was part of the reason why they thought that they could kill the father, Ali Khamenei, and then the system would crumble under him.

But you have a lot of discussion and debate all throughout the political system and throughout society in Iran.

It is a highly dynamic system and a highly dynamic society.

What we now have is, yes, we have the son of the former leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is now in charge.

But what he represents is a whole scale generational shift that's happened in Iran.

We have a younger generation that, first of all, grew up pretty much...

after the revolution in Iran had already happened.

Their side was already in power.

That brings a certain kind of confidence and swagger to it.

This generation fought the United States and Israel in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon.

And from their calculations, they won in those theaters.

So they are also a generation that is not afraid of confronting the Americans and the Israelis.

They experienced themselves on the battlefield, how they were able to push back.

the U.S.

military, for example, from Iraq and so on and so forth.

So there's a boldness to this generation.

Their father's generation came about in the 60s and 70s.

Yes, they were anti-imperialist.

Yes, they fought against the Shah and sort of having the United States involved in Iran's affairs.

But still, there was a level of respect for the might of what U.S.