Iran’s New Supreme Leader Issues First Message to the U.S. Rachel Maddow

The world held its breath this morning. At 2.17 a.m. Eastern time, Iranian state television interrupted all regular broadcasting. A senior IRGC commander appeared on screen, flanked by clerics in black robes,

and read a statement that stunned intelligence agencies from Washington to Tel Aviv to Moscow. Iran had just named its new supreme leader. His name is Moshtaba Khamenei. He is 56 years old. He is the son of the man America and Israel killed 10 days ago.

And within hours of stepping into the most powerful seat in the Islamic Republic, he delivered a message directly aimed at the United States, a message that most of the major networks are covering with one headline, one sentence, and then moving on.

I'm not moving on. Because what he actually said, the full statement, the specific language, the words that were translated but never broadcast in full, tells you something about the next phase of this war that nobody is prepared for. I've been tracking this story

since the first strike on February 28th. I've read the intelligence assessments, the IAEA reports, the statements from the IRGC, the leaked transcript of Moshtaba's first national address, and what I found in those documents is worse than any headline you have seen today.

Let me show you exactly what his first message to America said and why the White House went silent the moment they saw it. Before we go deeper, hit the subscribe button right now and turn on notifications. This story is moving by the hour, and the next 48 hours will determine whether this

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I'll wait. Let me give you the fast version of what brought us here. Mojtaba Khamenei, born September 8th, 1969 in the city of Mashhad in Northeastern Iran. He grew up as his father, Ali Khamenei, rose from a revolutionary cleric

to become the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in 1989. Mojtaba spent decades operating entirely in the shadows. He studied theology at the seminaries of Qom, the most conservative religious training ground in the Shia world, under scholars

known for their hardline rejection of any relationship with the West. He never held public office. He never gave press conferences. He was described by Iranian opposition groups as the ghost who runs everything. He controlled significant sections of the IRGC's intelligence apparatus. He had

direct influence over the besieged militia, the paramilitary force that crushed the 2009 Green Movement protests with extraordinary violence. He was, by every account of anyone who studied him closely, more radical than his father, significantly more radical. And now on day 10 of the war that America started

by killing his father, he is the Supreme Leader of Iran. Here is how we got here in 10 days. Fast version, February 28 2026. Day one, the United States and Israel launch Operation epic fury joint strikes hit over 2000 targets inside Iran. In the first wave of attacks, a precision strike on Tehran kills Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,

the man who had ruled Iran for 37 years. The White House names the operation. The world goes into immediate shock, March 1st through 4th. Iran retaliates. Hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles

hit American military bases across the Gulf. Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq. Six U.S. service members are killed in the first days. The Pentagon confirms the deaths. Oil prices spike past $100 a barrel for the first time since 2002.

March 5th through 7th, Trump publicly demands Iran's unconditional surrender. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi refuses negotiations and says on camera that Iran is confident it could repel even a full U.S. ground invasion. The war widens. Iran strikes civilian infrastructure across Gulf states. Bahrain's desalination plant is hit. Saudi Arabia reports its first deaths March 8, 2026, day nine.

Trump gives one of the most extraordinary statements any U.S. president has made in modern history. He says, and I am quoting him directly, Khamenei's son is unacceptable to me. The next Iranian leader will not last long without my approval. A sitting American president is publicly trying to dictate who leads a foreign nation.

Hours later, defying Trump's warning entirely, Iran's assembly of experts convenes. They pick Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the man America killed. The IRGC pledges immediate allegiance. March 9th, 2026, today, day 10 at 217 a.m.

Eastern, the announcement is broadcast worldwide. By morning, Mojtaba Khamenei has delivered his first statement. Oil prices soar another 12 percent. The seventh American soldier is confirmed dead. And the path to any negotiated end to this war, according to Reuters, Sky News,

and analysts at every major think tank, has just been closed. That is the setup. Now let me show you what the documents say. Okay, the evidence. I want to walk you through three specific pieces of information

that the mainstream coverage is not connecting. First, his inaugural address, Mojtaba Khamenei's first national address, was broadcast this morning. It has been translated and circulated widely. But what most outlets reported was a shortened version.

The full transcript, circulated by Iranian state media and verified by independent Persian language journalists, contains language that went unreported in English. He did not simply say Iran would continue to resist. He used a specific phrase in Farsi that translates directly to, and I want you

to hear this carefully, a slap to America's face that history will remember. He said Iran had achieved, quote, victory in the first 10 days, not a symbolic victory. He listed it, the killing of American soldiers. The disruption of oil infrastructure. The forcing of the United States to issue evacuation orders for its own diplomats. In his first statement as supreme leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei declared those things victories. And he promised directly that the nation's

will will never be broken and Iran will stand firm against Western aggression until its final demand is met. What is Iran's final demand? The complete withdrawal of American forces from the entire Middle East. Read that again. That is not a negotiating position. That is a statement of war aims. Second, the IRGC's energy war warning hours after Moshtaba Khamenei was confirmed, a senior IRGC commander, Abraham Zulfiqari, issued a direct warning to every Gulf Arab state

hosting American military assets. The statement broadcast on Al Jazeera and confirmed by Iranian state media said this, regional American allies must stop the United States or face further reprisals. Then it added this sentence. The sentence that every energy market analyst

is focused on right now. The IRGC warned explicitly of an energy war. That phrase, energy war, means one thing in the context of the Persian Gulf. It means the straight and foremost. Approximately 20% of the world's daily oil supply passes through that narrow waterway. If Iran closes it, or even threatens to close it credibly, the economic consequences for

the United States, Europe, and Asia are catastrophic. Brent crude is already at $100 per barrel today. The pre-war price was $64. That is a 56% increase in 10 days. If the strain of Hormuz is disrupted, even partially, every serious energy economist has the same model. Brent crude goes to between $140 and $180 per barrel. American gas prices reach between $7 and $9 per gallon

within 30 days. This is not speculation. This is the documented consequence of a Hormuz disruption. And the IRGC is now using the exact language that precedes it, third, what the appointment itself means.

Reuters published a headline this morning that should be the lead story on every channel. It reads, Iran's choice of Moshtaba Khamenei appears to close path to swift end to war. Sky News, reporting on Moshtaba's background and his hardline ideology, published this.

His appointment doesn't bode well for peace. The New York Times described him as a mysterious figure, and that is the polite version. Iran International, the Persian-language media outlet closest to the internal politics of the Islamic Republic, said Moshtaba is seen as even more hardline than his father.

More hardline than his father. Ali Khamenei, the man who spent 37 years calling America the great Satan, who funded Hezbollah and Hamas, and the Houthis who oversaw the development of ballistic missiles that can now reach American bases

across the entire region, was, according to people who study Iran for a living, less radical than the man who just replaced him. That is the document evidence. Now, let me tell you what nobody is covering.

Page through the intelligence assessment background on Mojtaba Khamenei carefully, the profiles published by Iran International, PBS NewsHour, and Al Jazeera over the past 48 hours, and you find a detail that is buried in paragraph 12 or 13 of most profiles. Mojtaba Khamenei does not hold the rank of Ayatollah.

Let me explain why that matters. The supreme leader of Iran is by by definition, the highest religious authority in the Shia Islamic legal tradition of governance, known as walayat al-faqih, the guardianship of the jurist. The entire constitutional framework of the Islamic Republic is built on the idea that the supreme leader

must be the most qualified Islamic jurist in the country. Mojtaba Khamenei is not an ayatollah. He studied at Qom, but never achieved the scholarly rank required by the constitution for the position he now holds. This means that Iran has just appointed a supreme leader who technically violates the constitutional basis

of the Islamic Republic itself. Why does that matter strategically? Because it tells you who actually controls Iran right now. Not the clerics, not the traditional religious establishment, the IRGC, Iran's most powerful and most radical military force installed a man they control, a man who owes his position entirely to them, as the supreme leader of a country of 90 million people

in the middle of a war with the United States and Israel. Put that together. The IRGC, the organization that operates Iran's ballistic missile program, its drone warfare capabilities, its network of proxy forces across the region, has just completed its effective takeover of the Iranian government.

And they did it while a war with America is actively ongoing. Read that again. That changes everything. A cow other side has points.

OK.

But look, I have to be fair here. The other side has a point, several points actually. Analysts at institutions like the Atlantic Council and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace have argued this week that the leadership transition, even to a hardliner, actually creates a diplomatic opening

that didn't exist before. Their argument goes like this. First, Mojtaba Khamenei has no public record, no speeches, no stated positions, no formal commitments. A leader with no public record is actually easier to negotiate with secretly

than one who has decades of documented anti-American statements. There is no face to lose. There is no speech to contradict. Second, the IRGC's support for Mojtaba paradoxically might make a ceasefire easier, not harder. The theory is this. The IRGC controls the military. If the IRGC wants to fight, they fight.

If the IRGC wants to stop, they stop. A supreme leader who is a creature of the IRGC can authorize a stop without it being a capitulation by the political establishment. Third, Iran is under enormous economic pressure.

Oil at $100 is actually a benefit Third, Iran is under enormous economic pressure.

Oil at $100 is actually a benefit for Iran's oil revenues in the short term. But the war is destroying Iran's civilian infrastructure. The strikes have hit power grids, water systems, transportation networks. Iran International reports that internal pressure from the Iranian population for some form of negotiated resolution is real and growing. John Bolton, the former national security advisor who has spent decades advocating for regime change in Iran, said on Fox Business this week,

the appointment is not necessarily the disaster it appears. Sometimes you need to talk to the people who actually hold power. Fair point. Don't dismiss it. What the other side has going for it. Moshe Taba's unknown record creates a possible diplomatic slate. IRGC control makes ceasefire orders more enforceable. Iranian civilian suffering creates internal pressure for de-escalation.

Back-channel communications between Washington and Tehran have not been confirmed as broken. Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said this on CNBC this morning. Trump could declare victory in Iran today. His argument is that the nuclear sites have been struck, the ballistic missile infrastructure has been damaged, and the regime has been decapitated once. A declaration of military success

creates the space for both sides to stop. That is a serious argument from a serious person. But, and here is where I have to be direct, the man who just became Supreme Leader of Iran spent his opening statement declaring American military casualties to be Iranian victories

and promising that Iran's will would never be broken. That is not the language of someone preparing to negotiate. That is the language of someone preparing to fight. Whether the reality behind the scenes matches the public rhetoric, that is the question that the next 72 hours will answer.

This moment didn't happen in a vacuum. Here is the backstory you need to understand it. Four years across multiple American administrations, Republican and Democratic, the United States pursued a strategy toward Iran's nuclear program

that toggled between negotiation and maximum pressure without ever resolving the core tension. The 2015 nuclear deal constrained Iran's enrichment program. The 2018 withdrawal blew it up. Since then, Iran systematically dismantled every restriction. By January 2026, the IAEA's confidential assessment reported that Iran had accumulated sufficient material

for multiple nuclear devices. The intelligence community assessed that the breakout timeline, the time between a decision to build a weapon and actually having one, had compressed from years to months

to weeks. That is the context in which Trump launched Operation Epic Fury on February 28th. The operation's stated objectives, as published by the White House on March 1st, were to destroy Iran's nuclear program, its ballistic missile infrastructure, and to, quote, crush the Iranian regime and end the nuclear threat. The word regime in that sentence is doing enormous work.

It is the word that tells you this was not a limited strike. It was a war for regime change. And now, on day 10, the regime has not been changed. It has been reinforced. It has picked a new leader who is more radical than the last one.

The IRGC has tightened its grip. American soldiers are dying. Oil is at $100. And the man in the White House who said, Iran's new leader will not last long without my approval, is now saying, and I am quoting his exact response

this morning, we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. That is not a strategic posture. That is a man who did not expect this outcome. March 8, 2026, 11. local time in Tehran. Here is exactly what happened.

Iran's Assembly of Experts, the 88-member clerical body constitutionally empowered to select the Supreme Leader, convened an emergency session. The meeting had been building for days, but the final confirmation came fast. At 11.47 p.m. Tehran time, 2.17 a.m. Eastern, Iranian state television read a statement

from the Assembly of Experts formally naming Moshtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the third supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Within minutes, and this is the detail that intelligence analysts noted immediately, the IRGC issued a statement of allegiance. Before the civilian government, before the parliament,

before the president's office, the military pledged loyalty first. That sequencing was not accidental. By 3 a.m. Eastern, all major global news outlets had confirmed the appointment. By 4 a.m., oil markets in Asia had opened

and Brent crude had jumped another $12 per barrel. By 6 a.m., the U.S. State Department had issued a travel alert, ordering non-emergency government personnel and their families to leave multiple countries in the region. By 7 a.m. Eastern, the Pentagon confirmed

the seventh American death in the war. And by 9 a.m. Eastern, the new Supreme Leader of Iran had delivered his first national address, the one I described earlier, calling American military casualties Iranian victories and declaring Iran's war aims as the complete withdrawal of American forces from the Middle East. Now, what everyone missed, something else happened this morning that almost nobody covered.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, the same official who this week told NBC News that Iran was confident it could counter a U.S. ground invasion, issued a separate statement alongside the leadership announcement. That statement said the following. Iran has accused the United States of wanting to partition the country and take its oil. That specific accusation, partition and oil, is not a random rhetorical flourish.

It is a calculated message aimed directly at China and Russia. Because the framing of American intentions as resource extraction and territorial division is the exact narrative that Beijing and Moscow have been using to frame U.S. foreign policy in their own domestic media for years. Iran is asking China and Russia to see this war not as a nuclear nonproliferation operation, but as an American land grab

in the world's most oil-rich region. That framing, if it lands with Beijing and Moscow, changes the entire geopolitical architecture of what happens next. Here is the detail that stopped me when I read it. On the day of the Supreme Leader announcement,

according to reports from Iran International, Moshe Dabba Khamenei's first communication was not his public address. It was a private message delivered through diplomatic channels to the governments of China and Russia.

Not America, not the United Nations, China and Russia. First, that is the exact same pattern we saw in the nuclear announcement scenario described by experts last month. Pre-notification of strategic partners before the public announcement,

it means Iran has an international architecture it believes will protect it. And the first act of the new supreme leader was to activate that architecture. Don't go anywhere. Because what I show you next changes the entire strategic picture. Drop your prediction in the comments right now. Do you think this war escalates further,

reaches a cease-fire, or spirals into something that pulls in China and Russia? Then keep watching. The expert section is where this gets specific. What are the experts actually saying? Jonathan Panikoff, director

Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, Atlantic Council. Speaking on CNBC this morning, Trump could declare victory in Iran today. The nuclear capabilities have been struck. The ballistic missile infrastructure has been damaged.

The regime has been decapitated. There is a path to declaring success and stopping. Plain English, there is an off-ramp. The question is whether either side takes it. Dr. Vali Nazer, Dean Emeritus of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, one of the most respected Iran scholars in the world.

His assessment, published this week, the appointment of Moshtaba Khamenei closes the path to a swift end to the war. Iran has chosen continuity and defiance over negotiation. Key there. He used the word closes, not narrows, not complicates, closes. General Jack Keane, former Army Vice Chief of Staff,

Fox News Senior Strategic Analyst, speaking this week on the Israeli strikes, the organizations that sustain Iran's regime are being targeted. The goal is enabling regime change. But regime change is happening differently than expected.

The regime is changing itself and choosing more defiance, not less. When even the most hawkish mainstream military analyst acknowledges the regime is adapting rather than collapsing, pay attention. The entire war plan was premised on the regime fragmenting under military pressure. It has not fragmented.

It has consolidated. Reuters, citing diplomatic sources, published this sentence this morning, Iran's choice of Mojtaba Khamenei appears to close path to swift end to war. That is not an opinion piece.

That is Reuters citing diplomatic sources saying the peace window has closed. Sky News analysis published today, what we know about Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and why his appointment doesn't bode well for peace.

When Reuters and Sky News, neither of which traffics in alarmism, are both publishing the same conclusion on the same day, that is the professional consensus forming in real time. Consensus from experts across the political spectrum, the appointment represents escalation continuity,

not de-escalation. The IRGC's control over the new leader makes any order to stop fighting more enforceable, but only if the IRGC decides it wants to stop. And right now, the IRGC has just installed their man as supreme leader in the middle of a war.

They did not do that to negotiate. Um, sensitive sack. Let me tell you why this directly affects your life. Right now, this week, not in some abstract geopolitical sense. In your wallet, your family, your job, your money. Oil is at $100 per barrel this morning.

Before Operation Epic Fury launched 10 days ago, it was $64. That is a 56% increase in 10 days. The national average for gasoline in America before the war was $3.18 per gallon. You are now paying more.

But here is what the models say about what comes next. Chatham House, one of the most respected international affairs research institutions in the world, published an analysis this week. Even at current price levels, without a Hormuz closure, inflation in the United States, Europe and Asia will accelerate in 26. Supply chain costs across every sector that depends on shipping will rise. Transportation, manufacturing, food distribution, all of

them move on fuel. Bloomberg published this headline three days ago. Iran war oil shock threatens to unleash wave of global inflation. If the IRGC follows through on its energy war warning and Iran moves against Hormuz, even partially, even with threats rather than action,

every serious economist's model shows the same outcome. Brent crude between $140 and $180. American gasoline between $7 and $9 per gallon. Within 30 days, if you have a 401k, your retirement account has energy sector exposure. If energy companies spike in the short term, but global recession follows, those gains evaporate, and the rest of your portfolio goes down with them. That is not hypothetical.

That is documented economic pattern from previous energy shocks. Your family's security. The United States has approximately 40,000 military personnel stationed at bases across the Gulf region. As of this morning, seven of them

have come home in flag-draped coffins. The Pentagon has confirmed each death. These are not statistics. These are people. The families of those service members were notified before the public announcements.

They found out their son or daughter or parent was gone while the rest of us were watching headlines. That is happening right now in American homes while this video plays. Your everyday life, Bahrain's state oil company declared force majeure this morning, meaning it cannot honor its existing supply contracts because Iran's strikes have disabled its refinery infrastructure. Force majeure declarations in energy markets are rare.

They signal supply disruptions that reverberate through global supply chains for weeks. Almost 14,000 commercial flights have been canceled since the war began, according to CNN. Routes through Middle Eastern airspace are being rerouted or suspended.

If you have travel plans in the next three zero six oh days, check your airline. If you have family in the region, pay attention. The precedent. Here's what nobody wants to say directly.

If the United States launches a war to achieve regime change in Iran, and instead produces a regime that is more radical, more consolidated, and more under the control of its most extreme military faction. The lesson that every other country draws from that outcome is this.

Hardening your position works. Giving ground does not. Nuclear proliferation is not just an Iranian problem. It is a North Korean problem, a Pakistani problem, and increasingly a problem in states that are watching this war carefully

and drawing conclusions about what happens to countries that do not have nuclear weapons when America decides it wants regime change. You are not just watching an Iran story. You are watching a story about what happens to the global security architecture that

has kept large-scale war between major powers from happening for 80 years. And the outcome of the next 10 days will shape that architecture for the next 40 years. That is not dramatic. That is what historians will write.

Tsss!

How the world reacted. Let me walk you through exactly how the major players responded to the Mosh Taba Khamenei appointment. Trump, truth social, 9, 23 a.m. Eastern. I am not happy with the appointment of Moshtaba Khamenei. He will not last long without my approval.

We'll see what happens. Three exclamation points. We'll see what happens. 12 hours earlier, Trump had said, and I need you to notice this, that Khamenei's son was unacceptable to him.

Hours later, the son was appointed anyway. And Trump's response to being publicly defied by Iran's leadership selection process was four words. We'll see what happens. Compare that to the extraordinary certainty of Trump's pre-appointment language. WeWill not last long without my approval.' That is not a hedge. That is a commitment."

And it was defied publicly with the whole world watching. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, his office issued a statement confirming that Israel's strikes on Iran would continue. Specifically, and this is the sentence that stood out to every analyst, the statement said Israel would target every successor of Khamenei, not the new supreme leader. Every successor. That is a statement that places no upper limit on the war's scope or duration. Iran's parliament.

Members pledged allegiance to the new supreme leader in a televised ceremony. United. Unanimous. Without the fracturing or dissent that some Western analysts had predicted would emerge under the pressure of American and Israeli strikes.

Russia and China. Neither government has issued statements directly criticizing the appointment. Neither has condemned it. The silence from both Beijing and Moscow is loud. They were pre-notified.

They stayed quiet. That silence in diplomatic terms is a form of endorsement.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres Violence in diplomatic terms is a form of endorsement.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued a statement calling for immediate de-escalation and return to dialogue. That statement in the current environment is the geopolitical equivalent of asking a house fire to please calm down. It will not change anything.

But its impotence is itself a data point about how functional the international order currently is. The appointment also made it worse on one specific dimension. Trump said the new leader was unacceptable. Iran appointed him anyway.

That sequence, American president declaring a foreign leader unacceptable, that leader being installed regardless is a public humiliation of American deterrence credibility that every government in the world has now observed. This is where it gets consequential.

It is... Let me be honest about what we don't know yet, because this story has moving parts that are still unresolved. One, what has been communicated between Washington and Tehran in back channels?

The public statements from both sides are maximum pressure performances. Behind those performances, quiet conversations almost certainly exist. We don't know what is being said. Two, what is Mojtaba Khamenei's actual strategic doctrine?

He has operated in the shadows his entire life. His public statements are those of someone who understands the performance requirements of his new role. Whether his private calculations are different, whether there is somewhere in his thinking a version of this that ends with a ceasefire, nobody outside his inner circle knows.

Three, what will China do? Beijing has enormous economic interests in Iranian oil. It has also invested decades in positioning itself as an alternative to American global leadership. Does China pressure Iran toward a settlement because it fears a broader war,

or does it see an opportunity to let America bleed? That decision is being made in Beijing right now, and it will shape the next chapter of this war more than any statement from Trump or Moshtafa. Four, what is the actual military situation inside Iran? The strikes have been described as hitting over 2,000 targets in 10 days, but the Iranian

military is still firing. Missiles are still hitting American bases. Iranian drones are still reaching Gulf states. The operation has not achieved the rapid collapse its architects may have anticipated. Here is what you need to watch in the next 10 days.

Specific dates, specific events. Tonight, March 9th, Iran's parliament has scheduled a formal session to mark the allegiance ceremony to the new supreme leader. What Mojtaba says or causes to be said in that formal session will be his first full

policy statement. That is the document that matters most. I will cover it when it drops. Tuesday, March 10th, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is en route to Tel Aviv. His meeting with Netanyahu will determine whether Washington and Israel

present a unified strategic posture or whether cracks are emerging between what Trump's Washington wants and what Netanyahu's Israel wants. Those two governments want different things right now. Pay attention to the readout from that meeting.

Wednesday, March 11th, the UN Security Council convenes its formal session on the conflict. China and Russia will veto any resolution authorizing or legitimizing American actions. But watch the statements, the language that China uses, specifically whether it describes the war as

American aggression or as a response to Iranian nuclear provocation. We'll tell you everything about where Beijing has positioned itself. Friday, March 13th, the CTBTO, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, is expected to release its full seismic analysis from an anomalous underground event recorded eight months ago southeast of Isfahan. That report will either confirm or cast doubt on whether Iran conducted

an underground nuclear test before the war began. If it confirms a test, the entire retroactive justification for the war becomes dramatically stronger. If it does not confirm a test, every piece of the pre-war intelligence picture

deserves re-examination. The next 48 hours. The IRGC's Energy War Warning is the most dangerous immediate variable. If Iran makes any move, even a signal, even a threat without action, toward the Strait of Hormuz, the economic and military escalation that follows will be faster and more severe than anything we have seen in the first 10 days. Subscribe now, turn on notifications.

I will cover every one of these developments as it happens. Every statement, every document, every filing. When Mojtaba's formal policy speech drops tonight, I will break it down line by line. When Rubio's readout comes from Tel Aviv, I will analyze what it tells us about the state of the U.S.-Israel alliance.

When the CTBTO report drops on Friday, I will go through it page by page. That is what this channel does. Evidence first, analysis second. You decide what it means. The full picture of where we stand on day 10, facts confirmed,

Moshtaba Khamenei, 56 years old, hardline cleric, son of the killed Supreme Leader, has been named Iran's third Supreme Leader. The IRGC pledged allegiance before any civilian institution. The military installed him. That is the sequence of power.

He does not hold the rank of Ayatollah. His appointment technically violates the Islamic Republic's constitutional framework. The IRGC chose him anyway. His first public statement declared American military casualties to be Iranian victories and named as Iran's war aim the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from the Middle East.

Seven American service members have been killed. Pentagon confirmed the seventh death this morning. Oil is at $100 per barrel, a 56% increase in 10 days. Bahrain's state oil company has declared force majeure. Iran's IRGC has issued an explicit energy war warning targeting the Strait of Hormuz. The US State Department ordered non-emergency government employees

to leave multiple regional countries as of March 9th. Trump said the new leader was unacceptable. Iran appointed him anyway. Trump's response, we'll see what happens. What is not yet confirmed, whether backchannel negotiations are occurring, whether China will play a mediating or enabling role, whether the IRGC will

follow through on energy war threats, whether Moshtaba's private strategic calculations differ from his public war language. The consensus of serious analysts, Reuters, the path to a swift end to the war has been closed by this appointment. Sky News, the appointment does not bode well for peace.

Dr. Vali Nazer, Iran has chosen continuity and defiance over negotiation. Jonathan Panikoff, there is still a path for Trump to declare victory, but the window is narrowing. What this moment means in historical terms,

10 days into a war launched to achieve regime change in Iran, the regime has not changed. It has chosen a more radical successor to the man America killed. The IRGC has consolidated its control of the Iranian state. The new supreme leader's first statement was a declaration of war aims. And the American president, who said the new leader was unacceptable, has responded to

being publicly defied with we'll see what happens. That is the story. That is where we are. Stay with this channel. Subscribe.

Turn on notifications. What happens tonight in Iran's parliament, what Moshtab Khamenei says when he formally addresses the nation for the first time as supreme leader is going to tell us which version of the next chapter this becomes. The back-channel ceasefire version or the energy war hormones version. Both are possible. One of them is coming. When it happens, I will be here breaking it down.

Document by document document statement by statement Document by document document statement by statement The way it deserves to be covered. This is day 10. The story is far from over