#iran-leadership-succession

#iran-leadership-succession

Celebrations in Lebanon have erupted as a 10-day ceasefire takes effect, creating an opportunity for discussions between Israeli and Lebanese officials regarding a long-term agreement.

In the past two months, conflict in Iran has created an energy crisis - the latest in a series. Oil prices spiked within days of the start of US, Israeli and Iranian bombing in the Gulf region on 28 February.

The Treasury Department posted the license on its website late Friday, allowing countries to purchase Russian oil loaded on vessels from Friday through May 16.

Pahlavi pledged to lead a transition to a 'free and democratic Iran.' He called on President Trump to continue the American-Israeli military operation against Iran, in the hope of displacing a regime he decried for placing a 'sea of blood' between itself and its people.

Mojtaba was announced as supreme leader on March 9 after his fellow hardliners rallied behind him to succeed his father. His public response was limited to a written statement on Telegram three days later, intensifying the speculation about how badly he was wounded during Israel's strike on his father's residence.

Mojtaba Khamenei has been announced as his father's successor as supreme leader. But US officials claim that he is wounded, and analysts say he has never held an executive role. That has left observers wondering what the chain of command looks like in Tehran, and who the most powerful figures in the country are.

For decades, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been a shadowy figure in Iranian politics, rarely seen in public and almost never heard speaking. He has never given interviews, has held no elected office and appears publicly only on rare ceremonial occasions. Even among political insiders, knowledge of his views is fragmentary.