The death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the bombings of USA and Israel shook the foundations of power in Iranbut did not cause the collapse of the regime established after the 1979 revolution. The operation, called Epic Furyalso It ended the lives of numerous high-ranking military and political leaders. However, Tehran quickly moved into counterattackfiring missiles not only against Israelbut also against Gulf nations that are allies of Washington. Even since Monday The war has spread to Lebanon.

“I don’t shy away from troops on the ground, like all those presidents who say, ‘There will be no troops on the ground.’ I’m not saying that.”he stated.

“I say ‘we probably don’t need them,’ (or) ‘if we need them,’” he added.

Earlier, during a press conference, the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, He denied that the United States has troops on the ground in Iran, but did not rule out a future deployment.

The Red Crescent raises the death toll in Iran in the attacks by Israel and the US to 555 (EFE).

`; document.body.appendChild(modalWrapper); let figcaption = modalWrapper.querySelector(“figcaption”); if(figcaption) figcaption.style.display=”none”; modalWrapper.querySelector(“.s-multimedia__close-modal”).addEventListener(“click”,()=>{modalWrapper.remove(); e.style.display=”flex”; if(caption) caption.style.display=”block”;});})})});});

Why didn’t the regime collapse?

A man walks past a billboard advertising Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran on March 2, 2026. (AFP photo).

For the journalist Alberto Rojasdirector of the International Affairs Observatory of the Finis Terrae University (Santiago, Chile) and author of the book “A world at war”, Iranian resistance has political, military and structural explanations that could prolong the conflict much longer than expected.

In dialogue with The CommerceRojas maintains that just as the United States deployed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Persian Gulf and the USS Gerald R. Ford in the eastern Mediterranean, Iran had been preparing for an outcome of this magnitude for months.

“The regime understood since last year that this scenario was possible. “When Washington began to directly threaten the supreme leader, internal succession mechanisms were activated,” explains. As he remembers, there were even public messages of Trump warning that They knew the location of the Ayatollahalthough at that time they had no intention of removing it.

He adds that the leader’s advanced age—86 years—accelerated the preparations. There was talk of at least five possible successors, whose names were kept strictly confidential to prevent them from becoming targets of foreign intelligence. Some of them, Rojas maintains, could have died in the attack which also killed ministers and high military commanders.

Rojas describes the death of the ayatollah as a “brutal beheading”but indicates that despite this the regime has not collapsed. The key, he maintains, is in the very structure of the Iranian system.

“Iran is not a liberal democracy, but it is It is a regime with its own institutional mechanisms where religion and politics are completely intertwined. “That gives it cohesion.”he points out.

The Armed Forces remain loyal, the Revolutionary Guard remains operational and control of public order, so far, has not been overwhelmed. Although there were small celebrations after learning of the leader’s death, the massive protests seen in 2022 have not been repeated. after the death of Mahsa Amini, nor the recent mobilizations due to the economic crisis, he emphasizes.

“The regime is sending clear signals that it intends to resist whatever is necessary,” warns.