Name: What happens next in Iran after Khamenei’s death?
Uploaded: 2026-03-01T23:01:41.000Z
Duration: 10 min 46 s
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Inside Iran, mixed emotions as this milestone in the nation's history continues to unfold.

And this history that we are all now watching, some tell CNN they're joyful that Ayatollah Khamenei is dead.

Others, of course, are worried and angry about the future and the threat of instability.

He's a political professor at the University of South Florida and has written a book called Iran's Rise and Rivalry with the United States in the Middle East.

And really appreciate your taking the, I guess, professor, you know, Freed was just talking about that there's 92 million people in Iran, right.

So that there is always someone who could take over a spot that has been vacated.

But another way of looking at that is just the incredible depth and size and power of the nation.

And that for 92 million people, life has forever changed.

It's been since 1981 that the Dyatollah Khamenei has been president or supreme leader of Iran.

You left Tehran for the United states in the 1960s as a teenager.

Then came the revolution in 1979 and you couldn't go back.

So now here you are at this point in your life watching this happen.

It feels very strange because I, to be honest with you, I am very worried about the future of the country because we are going through perhaps the most volatile and the most dangerous period since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

We have this war with the United States, the greatest military power in the world, with Israel, the greatest military power in the Middle East.

And then at the same time, the leader of Iran, who had ruled Iran for 37 years, long years, has been killed.

And therefore, now there is not only we have a crisis in terms of Iran's military confrontation with two great powers, there is also internal turmoil as the country has to decide who is going to replace Ayatollah Khamenei.

Moreover, there are a number of people who operate outside the governing elite in Iran, some of them inside the country and some outside of the country who now has seen the opportunity to try to shape the future of the Islamic Republic.

Adding to all of this is that we have the US who seems to have a short term plan to force Iran to come to the negotiating table.

We have Israel that has a longer plan because the Israeli plan seems to be to really degrade Iranian military capabilities.

And then we have the policy or the strategy of Iran which wants to make this war as long as possible to make it as costly on the United States as possible.

I don't know whether you think it's an oversimplification, but

there has, you know, sort of been initially the feeling that was put out there was the US And Israel will take out the supreme Leader and then leave the rest of the Iranian people, that this sort of the Runway has been cleared for the Iranian people to rise up and take over and ride into the sunset.

And, you know, I'm obviously oversimplifying, but that that's the feeling out there for some.

New Yorker columnist Robin Wright was reacting to Trump's comments on CNN last night when, you know, when he talked about the Iranian people now taking over for themselves.

The Iranians have many young Nelson Mandelas, but

they don't have the kind of African National Congress you had in South Africa that had years to form an infrastructure to define what the alternative to apartheid might look like and who would be its leadership.

So I remember being in Iran for the election of President Rouhani and seeing, you know, the way they would open up mosques for voting, right.

That there was, there was, there was a voting process, but it was completely controlled, right?

Do opposition leaders in Iran right now have any sort of an infrastructure or a path to power?

Well, the literature, the academic literature is very clear that air power alone is not going to overthrow a well fortified revolutionary regime like the Islamic Republic.

You need to have people inside the country who have weapons, who have financial support, and

At this time, to be honest with you, I do not see anyone with the capability to immediately take over the government.

However, as I said, there are contenders outside of Iran and inside Iran who believe they can actually change the regime.

At this time, it seems to me the odds are against those who want to immediately overthrow the Islamic Republic because as I have said numerously and I have written about it, the Islamic Republic has proven in the past 48 years that it is not a government that is good and economic prosperity bringing economics prosperity in governing, but

it is an extremely effective government for suppressing people and for survival.

And the idea in Tehran, the idea that is unifying everybody who has one way or another, worked with the Islamic Republic, is that we have entered an existential moment precisely because the president of the United States has called for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.

I want to Bring in President Trump's former National Security Adviser and former UN Ambassador John Bolton.

Ambassador Bolton, the day started with that exchange of threats.

But by the late morning, as President Trump has been calling around to media outlets, he told the Atlantic that the new leaders in Iran, quote, want to talk.

And on top of that, Oman's Foreign Ministry also says that Iran is open to any serious efforts at de escalation.

So should the US work with the remnants of the existing Iranian regime similar to what they have done so far in Venezuela?

I have no doubt that whatever is left of Iran's top leadership is perfectly happy to talk to the United States to play for time to stop us and the Israelis from pounding them.

The threat that they pose to us remains unresolved.

That's why the President has selected the correct objective here, which is regime change.

We need to have patience and not listen to those that will do anything, say anything to get us to stop.

Yeah, but I think people are also eager to get a sense of what is next.

I mean, as you know, the late Shah's son, Reza Pahlavi has been suggesting that he is the person who could lead Iran.

Do you think that he actually has the support, the power, the infrastructure to do that?

Well, we don't know whether he does or anybody else does.

And I think it's a mistake to focus on who the next leader of a non ayatollah led Iran will be.

Once we have a non ayatollah led Iran, then we can worry about it.

As Jim Baker always used to say to me, keep your eyes on the prize, and

I think the most likely outcome, certainly, probably the best outcome, would be a regime led by the regular Iranian military, not the Revolutionary Guard, but

the conventional military that understands that its role is limited and that really they need to set up a process for Iranians in country and for people from the who have been exiled to go back and participate.

But to try and do it in advance, I think, is putting the cart before the horse.

Let me play what President Trump had to say to the people of Iran.

Listen, When we are finished, take over your government.

This will be probably your only chance for generations.

I'm curious what your reaction to that is and also how.

How can the regular Iranian people take over their government at this stage.

Well, it's remarks like that and one other thing he said in that speech that leave me worried that we have not coordinated effectively with the opposition inside Iran.

It doesn't have enormous structure or leadership, but the dissatisfaction with the regime has never been more widespread.

The regime is weaker now than it has been at any point since it was founded in 1979.

And it won't be, I think, a transition from an ayatollah led regime or really a Revolutionary guard led regime.

I think it's the guard that's really in control in Iran to the people.

The ayatollahs have been in power for 47 years.

And I think we need some persistence and some patience here.

I hope the administration is ready for that.

I hope they make the case better than they have so far to the American people that this could take time.

It's not time involving boots on the ground, but

if we are successful, as it appears that we are well on the way to doing of having complete air dominance over Iran, meaning we're we can take our time, that we shouldn't be pressed by eight days, nine days, is it going to be over in 10 days?

It will be over when it's over, if that's our real objective.

If regime changes our objective, we should have known going in.

We cannot predict at the outset how long it will take.

Ambassador John Bolton, thank you very much for joining us.