Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is dead and the international system is entering a far more dangerous phase than many appear willing to acknowledge.
One may hold any opinion about the Islamic Republic of Iran, about its ideology or ruling elite. There are ample grounds for criticism, some severe. Yet one basic fact remains: Ali Khamenei was the legitimate head of a UN member state, recognized by virtually the entire international community, and a lawful participant in international relations. This included ongoing political negotiations with those who ultimately organized the attack, negotiations that continued until the moment the hostilities began.
The targeted destruction of a state’s leadership by another state as a matter of deliberate policy marks a fundamentally new stage in world politics. This is not merely another episode of regime change. Even when compared with the brutal ends of Muammar Gaddafi or Saddam Hussein, the difference is stark. Gaddafi was killed by Libyan opponents amid internal collapse; Hussein was executed following a trial conducted by an Iraqi court, however flawed one may judge it.
Iran’s case is different. It resembles the method Israel has used against the leadership of Hezbollah and Hamas: Direct elimination by external force, without intermediaries, without legal framing, and without the pretense of internal process.
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