Iran After Larijani and Khamenei
Posted By: Moritz55, 3/21/2026 7:11:43 PM
The assassination of Ali Larijani on March 17 has shattered what remained of Iran’s fragile leadership, accelerating its descent into a fractured autocracy—defiant in ideology but paralyzed in function. Just weeks after the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Larijani’s elimination removed the last credible link between the clerics, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and President Masoud Pezeshkian’s reformist‑leaning government. With no unifying authority and relentless bombardment underway, Tehran now faces its most vulnerable moment.
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Moritz55"
Iran After Larijani and Khamenei
3 replies
The assassination of Ali Larijani on March 17 has shattered what remained of Iran’s fragile leadership, accelerating its descent into a fractured autocracy—defiant in ideology but paralyzed in function. Just weeks after the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Larijani’s elimination removed the last credible link between the clerics, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and President Masoud Pezeshkian’s reformist‑leaning government. With no unifying authority and relentless bombardment underway, Tehran now faces its most vulnerable moment.
Deranged Tucker Carlson backstabs Trump
14 replies
In politics, it is often the people who you think have your back who end up stabbing you there.
Nobody knows that better than Donald Trump, who has been stabbed in the back more times than Julius Caesar — yet has still survived.
This week, part of the noisy right-wing online podcast-sphere again turned on the president. Leading the virtual charge, again, was Trump’s one-time cheerleader, Tucker Carlson.
There was a time when Carlson was fully Team Trump.
Carlson often appeared at Trump rallies as part of the warmup act. But in the past year, he has tried to lead the MAGA base away from Trump and down a very dark path.
As the Islamic Republic trembles under internal dissent and external pressure, a once-theoretical question is becoming urgent: What comes the day after? For decades, Western policymakers focused on how to constrain Iran.
Now, as Reza Pahlavi steps forward with a detailed post-regime vision, the conversation is shifting to what comes next and whether anyone is prepared for it. A recent Jerusalem Post report pointed to a striking reality. “Unlike many opposition figures, Pahlavi is not only calling for regime change but presenting a plan for what follows.” That distinction matters.
His proposed Iran Prosperity Project outlines a structured transition beginning the moment the Islamic Republic falls
The FBI is investigating former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent in connection with alleged leaks of classified information, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter tell CBS News.
The probe began before Kent resigned this week over the Trump administration's handling of the war with Iran, the sources said. The FBI's Criminal Division is handling the probe, which has been underway for some time, one source said.
The FBI declined to comment. Kent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Victor Davis Hanson weighs in on how the war with Iran is going after two weeks for "The Daily Signal."
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: We’re just completing the second week of the so-called Iran war — this effort of the United States to bomb the theocracy into submission so they will cancel their missile and nuclear programs and to champion the popular protests on the streets that have some potential to get rid of the regime itself.
But it’s a very surreal war. I haven’t seen — I don’t think any of us have seen — anything like it. It’s only been two weeks and we’re told that it’s dragging on
Christian parents lose final appeal after
Swedish state took daughters following
false abuse claim 12 replies
Swedish state took daughters following
false abuse claim 12 replies
A Christian couple’s years-long fight to regain custody of their daughters from the Swedish government was dealt a major setback last week after a top European court rejected their plea for help. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled the case brought by Daniel and Bianca Samson "inadmissible" on March 10, a final decision that cannot be appealed.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom International, which is supporting the family’s legal effort, the children have been separated from their parents since December 2022.
ADF International said the case began after the couple’s eldest daughter, Sara, then 11, made a false abuse report at school
In March 2021, California principal Jesus Becerra was confronted by a clear and present threat to his school.
Standing before him was the culprit — a student apparently so dangerous that Becerra had to act without delay to protect the entire Viejo Elementary School in the Capistrano Unified School District. The little girl is known only as B.B. in federal filings, but her actions were so heinous that a parent alerted Becerra to take all necessary action. Beccera showed B.B. the incriminating evidence: a picture of children holding hands with the words “any life” written under “Black Lives Matter.”
Confronting the little girl, Becerra allegedly called the paper “racist.”
President Trump was stunned to learn last week that US intelligence indicates new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei may be gay — and that his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, feared his suitability to rule the Islamic Republic for that reason, The Post can reveal.
Trump couldn’t contain his surprise and laughed aloud when he was briefed on the intel, according to sources.
Others in the room also found it “hilarious” and joined the president’s reaction, while one senior intelligence official “has not stopped laughing about it for days,” said one person familiar with the briefing.
President Gustavo Petro’s proposal to move toward a dual citizenship arrangement between Colombia and Venezuela for citizens who have lived in both countries has opened a new front in the debate over the relationship between the two nations, which share a history and a border.
The initiative aims to allow citizens of both countries—who share a common history on both sides of the border—to hold both Colombian and Venezuelan citizenship simultaneously, with access to civil, political, and economic rights in both countries.
The proposal comes amid a process of political rapprochement between Bogotá and Caracas, in which the two governments are trying to deepen cooperation in trade, energy, and border security.
An Arizona man accused of crucifying a pastor and placing a crown of thorns on the victim's head has requested the death penalty so everyone "can move on with our lives." Adam Sheafe, who is representing himself, asked the judge last week to allow him to enter a guilty plea, so the case can wrap up quickly, saying the legal system was "dragging this out," according to Fox 10.
Sheafe, 51, is accused of murdering William Schonemann, the pastor of New River Bible Chapel, in April 2025 before mutilating the man's body. Schonemann was found dead with his arms spread out in his bed and his hands pinned to a wall
Late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was wary about his son Mojtaba succeeding him because he was not perceived as being particularly intelligent, according a new report. CBS News detailed that Khamenei was also aware of issues in Mojtaba's personal life. However, the outlet added, Trump told people close to him that information conveyed to him about the new supreme leader doesn't matter. He believes the country is operating without a leader and Khamenei could be dead.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday that Khamenei is wounded and likely disfigured. Moreover, a report by British outlet The Sun claimed that the man is in a coma and lost a leg
Protesters attacked a Communist Party headquarters in Cuba overnight, ransacking the building and attempting to set it on fire, and video appeared to capture gunfire and a man on the ground outside, according to footage obtained by Fox News Digital. Cuban state media later denied that anyone had been struck by police gunfire and announced five arrests.
Dramatic footage shows a large crowd gathered outside the building in the city of Morón as a fire burns in the street and protesters throw burning objects at the building. Protesters can be heard chanting "Libertad, libertad!" — Spanish for "Freedom, freedom!" — moments before gunfire rings out in the video.
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Americans could soon pay nearly a dollar to mail a first-class letter as the U.S. Postal Service seeks higher rates to address deepening financial losses.
Postmaster General David Steiner told a House Oversight Committee hearing that the agency wants to increase the price of a first-class stamp from the current 78 cents to between 90 cents and 95 cents.
The Postal Service posted a $9 billion loss in 2025 and faces the risk of running out of cash within 12 months if no changes are made.
“As you all know, there are only three things that any company can do to improve financial performance — sell more products, raise prices, or cut costs,”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon is sending a letter to 43 million Americans with student loans -- about 9 million of whom are in default -- to notify them that the Treasury Department is taking over debt collection, the Post has learned. (snip) There's currently $1.7 trillion in outstanding student debt -- roughly 25% of which, or $425 billion, was believed to be in default as of last year. (snip) The Treasury Department includes the IRS, which has the power to garnish up to 15% of a delinquent borrower's paycheck.
The nerve of a judge to deport an illegal immigrant who held the lofty status of a staff member for the New York City Council has left New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in high dudgeon.
Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, a data analyst for the council, will be deported to Venezuela. The Department of Homeland Security said Rubio overstayed his 2017 tourist visa, has an arrest for assault, and does not possess work authorization, CBS News noted.
Mamdani argued his version of reality should take precedence over the law. “Today, an administrative immigration judge ordered the deportation of Rafael Rubio, a City Council employee. This is an affront to justice,”
CBS News Radio will go silent in May, wiping out all the jobs in that part of the troubled network and impacting 700 radio stations.
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski announced the change Friday morning, according to The Washington Post.
“Today, we informed our CBS News Radio team and approximately 700 affiliated stations that we will end the service on May 22, 2026,” a memo to employees said. “Unfortunately, this decision means that all positions within the CBS News Radio team are being eliminated,” the memo said, saying employees would know Friday whether they are losing their job.
CBS News also said Friday
Iran's Most Powerful Weapon
20 replies
Three weeks into a military engagement in Iran, a war Republicans will not call a war, the American and Israeli militaries have all but wiped out Iran's capacity to make war. We have killed their leadership, the replacement leaders, and militia members on the ground. We have destroyed their missile launchers and the factories in which they made the missiles. But Iran still has one of the most powerful weapons in the world on its side, and it is ruthlessly deploying it – the American press corps.
"Families mourn as dead are laid to rest in Tehran," blared the front page, above the fold headline in the Athens Banner-Herald
Robert Mueller, who investigated allegations
of Russian election meddling, dies at
81, sources say 19 replies
of Russian election meddling, dies at
81, sources say 19 replies
Robert Mueller, a former FBI director who led the investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, has died, multiple sources told CBS News on Saturday. He was 81. A cause of death was not shared. Mueller is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Ann Cabell Standish, their two daughters, and three grandchildren. His death was first reported by MS Now. Mueller served as FBI director from 2001 to 2013. In 2017, the Justice Department appointed him special counsel to investigate potential coordination between Russia and the Trump team during the 2016 presidential election. The nearly
Media veterans outraged as Bari Weiss
shuts 100-year old CBS News Radio: ‘It’s disgusting’ 18 replies
shuts 100-year old CBS News Radio: ‘It’s disgusting’ 18 replies
CBS News Radio — the century-old home of legendary journalists Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow — is shutting down as network boss Bari Weiss continues to reshape the struggling news network, cutting 6% of its workforce in a Friday bloodbath that claimed 60 to 70 jobs.
Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowksi said Friday that CBS Radio will shut down May 22 with all roles in the unit eliminated — a move that was driven by industry shifts and financial pressure from David Ellison, CEO of CBS parent Paramount Skydance.
The duo told employees that “a shift in radio station programming strategies, coupled with challenging economic realities,
In 2018, then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was eating at the Red Hen in Lexington when the owners asked her to leave because of her politics. It was a huge controversy (and not to be confused with the September incident when President Trump and those who were with him were harassed by protesters at the D.C. eatery with the same name).
That Red Hen location closed permanently in 2023.
Now, an Arkansas eatery has started the clock on its own closure after asking Governor Huckabee Sanders to leave their establishment, again over her politics. (X) Here's more:
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas and former White House press secretary,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday indicated that the Islamic regime would not be overthrown without a "ground component" to the current conflict. (snip) "It is often said that you can't (snip) do revolutions from the air. (snip) you can do a lot of things from the air (snip) but there has to be a ground component, as well. There are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities."
Iran launched an attack on the Diego Garcia, US-UK joint military base in the Indian Ocean, but did not hit it, as per a report from The Wall Street Journal. As per WSJ's Friday report, one of the missiles failed in flight when a US warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the other, though it was not determined if the interceptor had succeeded. The report did not specify when Iran fired the missiles. However, it is the distance of the Diego Garcia base from Iran that has sparked discussions about the striking capabilities of Iranian missiles.
“4,118 km from Iran to Diego Garcia. Far beyond any previously known Iranian ballistic missile
BREAKING: Chuck Norris Dies at 86
16 replies
Chuck Norris, the legendary martial artist and action star who embodied American toughness for generations, died Thursday morning at age 86. His family announced the news on Friday in a statement posted to his Instagram account.
"It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning. While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace," the statement reads. "To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and
USPS already lost $1.3 billion this year
— and cash shortages might halt mail
delivery in 2027 15 replies
— and cash shortages might halt mail
delivery in 2027 15 replies
The mail may soon stop — and not because it’s lost in transit.
The cash-strapped United States Postal Service is barreling toward a financial cliff, with Postmaster General David Steiner warning lawmakers the agency could run dry by October — and potentially halt mail delivery altogether by 2027 if Congress doesn’t step in.
“At our current rate, we’ll be out of cash in less than 12 months,” Steiner told the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations on March 17.
“So in about a year from now, the Postal Service would be unable to deliver the mail.”
Translation: no stamps, no service.
The grim forecast comes as the USPS continues its long-running losing streak.