One-by-One: How Iran’s Supreme Commander Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lost his top commanders and why his axis is crumbling

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is depicted in this picture, which was made available by the Egyptian high leader’s official site, under the painting of the late innovative founder Ayatollah Khomeini. ( AP/PTI ) ( AP06_14_2025_000001B )

One figure cuts an increasingly distant silhouette in the smoldering shipwreck of Israel’s aerial bombardment of Tehran: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 86-year-old Supreme Leader of Iran, who has lost all of the commanders, spymasters, and managers who once made up the steel back of his law. The Islamic Republic’s command dealt the most severe blow to the country’s management since it was founded in 1979 by destroying Iran’s most powerful military and intelligence commanders in just a few hours. The murders were operative, not just symbolic. The Revolutionary Guards ‘ commander. the creator of Iran’s weapon program. The head of defense knowledge. the official in charge of federal defense. Gone. The key of Khamenei’s expert band has been completely eliminated, destroying the command-and-control framework he built over the course of three decades.

The Guard Fell The Night the Watch

The attacks started just after midnight next Friday. High-value goals in and around Tehran, including underground bunkers, contact centers, and airbases, were hit by precision-guided Jewish missiles, and they were joined by the men who held them. One of the first proved fatalities was Major General Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Guards. Salami, a long-standing Khamenei loyalist, served as the Supreme Leader’s executioner, strategist, and intellectual spokesman. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the man responsible for Iran’s drone and missile arsenal, was locked up behind him, along with other important deputies as they convened to prepare retaliation. Mohammad Kazemi, the intelligence chief, left future. Then came General Mohammad Bagheri, the head of Iran’s trained troops, and General Gholam Ali Rashid, the head of mutual military operations. The top tier of Iran’s warfighting structures had been destroyed by Saturday night. It was a battle of incredible performance in terms of military term. Politically speaking, it was an disaster.

The Supreme Leader’s Loneliness

Khamenei has always had clerics, soldiers, and intellect officials as their central centers of loyalty. The Islamic Republic’s strength was never in doubt, and it was only through war, rebellion, and assassinations that they managed to maintain. That group is currently broken. According to sources with knowledge of Khamenei’s decision-making process, the inner circle was interpersonal rather than institutional. These weren’t really soldiers; they were also comrades. He had fought alongside, planned upheavals, and given the prospect to. Their loss is not just strategic; it is also very specific. A smaller, more flimsy machinery is still present. His brother, Mojtaba Khamenei, has grown in proportions over the past 20 years, and he now serves as the de facto representative of both safety and policy. Mojtaba, a preacher with no official name but a sizable amount of influence behind the scenes, is perceived by insiders as both a successor-in-waiting and chief-of-staff in exercise. The aging commanders, who include local fixers Mohammad Golpayegani and academic veterans Ali Akbar Velayati and Kamal Kharazi, are now finding themselves holding the last ties to a previously wide authority structure.

The Record of Friends

Qasem Soleimani

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

Mohammad Hejazi

Ali Shamkhani

Hossein Salami

Amir Ali Hajizadeh

Mohammad Bagheri

Gholam Ali Rashid

Mohammad Kazemi

Gholamreza Mehrabi

Hassan Nasrallah, a significant provincial alliance, is not Iranian.

Bashar al-Assad ( a strategic partner, not an Iranian ):

And Khamenei’s loss go beyond Iran’s borders. Hassan Nasrallah, a long-time local ace and one of Khamenei’s some authentic foreign confidants, was the victim of a bombing in September last year that killed him. Bashar al-Assad in Syria, who had been propelled for years by Egyptian weapons and gold, was ousted in December by a dissident revolt. The renowned” Axis of Weight” is now strewn in shards, with its leaders in Tehran and Lebanon shaken, and its anchors in Lebanon and Damascus weakened. Iran’s punishment position is seriously compromised because Hezbollah is weak and Syria uncertain. Its provide lines are strewn, its proxies are strewn, and its capability to rise in many theaters is constrained. That’s a tactical victory for Israel. It raises the possibility of an erratic resolute Iran, which is feared in the region.

Next, What?

The government has made an effort to maintain stability in Tehran. Jewish targets have been shot with missile salutes. State television has been filled with speeches invoking revenge. However, the government is working behind closed doors. The new leaders lack the experience of their predecessors on the field. The knowledge machinery is disoriented. The standard troops, who is typically hampered by the Guards, may be asked to step in, further complicating the chain of command. And above it all is the number of Mojtaba, who has spent his entire life in a conflict but is now a key player in crisis control. The time is philosophical for Khamenei. He has always given the success of the routine precedence over ideology, diplomacy, and the market. That is not the case with math. However, his life plan is no longer guaranteed because of the removal of his most trusted men. He is optimistic, according to an Egyptian insider. But he is now only. There is no lonelier circle in the Middle East when the commanders are gone, the friends are useless, and the war drum are pounding.

Source credit