Imagining a post-Ayatollah Iran

Of the Iranian regime’s proxies, all but one are defunct or gravely weakened. Syria has changed sides, Hamas in the Gaza Strip is defeated and may be forced to disarm, Hezbollah in Lebanon faces the same fate, and only the Houthi in Yemen are still useful allies.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is facing protests as the country struggles under the collapse of its currency and the explosive rise in the cost of living.Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

January 6, 2026

LONDON, U.K.—The recent demonstrations in Iran began again only two years after the “Woman! Life! Freedom!” movement convulsed the country for months. However, the current protests are potentially much broader than that episode because they are driven by the collapse i...

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