Israel Defence Forces warned that the new Iranian leadership under Mojtaba Khamenei is much more “extreme and rigid” than the previous regime under Ayatollah Khamenei. The statements come as United States and Iranian representatives are set to hold peace talks in Islamabad.“Iran’s new leadership is even more extreme than its predecessor,” IDF representatives told the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee during a closed-door intelligence briefing, Times of Israel reported.Delivering a grim assessment of the new regime, IDF said that much of Iran’s new leadership is drawn from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is widely viewed as more ideologically hardline than the country’s previous political leadership, the Times of Israel reported citing two sources.Prior to the ceasefire, the Israeli Air Force carried out hundreds of strike missions across Iran, deploying more than 13,000 munitions against military and government targets. The joint offensive killed dozens of senior political and military figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The campaign by Israel and the United States against Iran, launched on February 28, was aimed at regime change, weakening Tehran’s military capabilities, countering threats such as its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and “creating the conditions” for internal upheaval against the regime, according to Israeli military and political leaders.The Strait of Hormuz remained closed on Friday as Israel and Hezbollah continued exchanging fire in Lebanon, with both the United States and Iran accusing each other of breaching their ceasefire agreement ahead of their first peace talks of the conflict. The two-day-old truce has brought a halt to US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, but it has not eased the blockade of the strait—triggering an unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies—nor has it stopped Israel’s parallel conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
