Iran’s Layered Leadership Thwarted Hopes of Power Vacuum, Military Expert Says

Iran’s multiple levels of governance have frustrated expectations that war would leave a vacuum at the top of the state, military and strategic expert Brigadier General Rizq al-Khawaldeh said.

Al-Khawaldeh was commenting on remarks by US President Donald Trump about not knowing who was running Iran since the outbreak of the war.

The expert’s assessment placed Iran’s governing structure at the centre of its ability to avoid a leadership vacuum. He argued that the presence of several levels of authority had undermined calculations that power would be left unfilled.

His comments drew a distinction between uncertainty over who is directing Iran and an actual absence of governing authority, suggesting that the former did not establish the latter.