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(Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via AP)
U.S. intelligence agencies believe Iran’s government remains firmly in control despite nearly two weeks of sustained military strikes that killed senior leaders and commanders, according to officials.
Sources familiar with the reports told Reuters on Thursday that the clerical regime remains cohesive and in authority across the country even after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening hours of the conflict on February 28.
A “multitude” of intelligence reports provide “consistent analysis that the regime is not in danger” of collapse and “retains control of the Iranian public,” one source told Reuters on Monday.
The most recent assessment was completed within the past few days, the source added.
The findings come as political pressure grows on President Donald Trump to bring the largest U.S. military campaign since the 2003 Iraq invasion to an end, amid rising oil prices and uncertainty over the war’s objectives.
Since the operation began, U.S. and Israeli forces have targeted Iran’s air defences, nuclear infrastructure and senior leadership figures, killing dozens of officials and high-ranking commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Earlier this week, Iran’s Assembly of Experts, a powerful body of senior clerics, declared Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the slain leader, as the new supreme leader.
The sources cautioned that the situation remains fluid and could change.
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