Later, Iran's Ambassador to the UN Amir-Saeid Iravani said that the country was "exercising its inherent and lawful right of self-defense," in response to "aggression and large-scale war."

At first dismissed as weak and indecisive, Khamenei seemed an unlikely choice for supreme leader after the death of the charismatic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Pahlavi expressed immense gratitude to US President Donald Trump for his role in the operation and for his words of encouragement to Iran's citizens.

This year, Shabbat Zachor frames the chaos. The Torah demands that Jews recognize the pattern, protect the vulnerable, and refuse to forget who they are.

The Iranian reports did not explicitly mention President Masoud Pezeshkian's ability to carry out his political duties. 

The complexities of Iran's ruling system, the ideological nature of its support base, and the power of its Revolutionary Guards make it hard to predict what might come next.

One likely candidate to run the Islamic regime after the Ayatollah's death is Ahmad Vahidi, who was the IRGC deputy chief on the eve of the war.

Although it turns out Khamenei was killed likely in the war's opening moments by around 30 bombs around 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning, the more intense response only came later.