No one can be sure what will happen next in Iran following the surprise "Operation Epic Fury" on Saturday, in which a joint missile strike by the U.S. and Israel reportedly took out top officials in the 47-year-old theocratic dictatorship.
As of 11 a.m. EST Saturday, there were reports that Gen. Majid Javadi, described as one of Iran’s senior intelligence officers, was killed in the assault. In addition, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was also reported killed.
The fates of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were not publicly confirmed. But signs were cited by opposition figures that the regime could be in its twilight days and that other Iranians might follow President Donald Trump’s admonition on Truth Social to “take over the government.”
Iranian opposition groups abroad were quick to hail the operation and hinted they intended to return to Iran when it became clear that Khamenei and his colleagues were finished.
The leader of one of the largest opposition groups announced the formation of a provisional government to “Transfer Sovereignty to the People of Iran and Establish a Democratic Republic.” Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), reissued her 10-point plan.
The plan includes rejection of “velayat-e faqih” (absolute clerical rule), freedom of speech, press, and political parties, separation of mosque and state, and an independent judiciary.
Addressing criticism that the NCRI is an exile group with no presence on the ground in Iran, a spokesman for Rajavi told Newsmax that more than 250 underground fighters from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran fought Revolutionary Guard forces in a clash outside the supreme leader’s compound on Feb. 23. More than 100 of the Mojahedin were reported killed, and two cameramen who filmed the clash were missing.
“And you asked if we have guns,” the spokesman told Newsmax, “During the protests in January, we seized several government offices — among them headquarters for IRGC enforcers — and we became proficient in overpowering and disarming them. So, yes, the opposition on the ground in Iran has guns.”
Also voicing strong support for what he called the “humanitarian” U.S.-Israeli strike Saturday was the most visible face of opposition to the regime in the media: Reza Pahlavi, 65, son of the last shah of Iran.
"We are very close to final victory. I want to be by your side as soon as possible so that together we can take back and rebuild Iran," said Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the Washington area.
Like Rajavi, Pahlavi has not said when he would return or what role he wishes to assume in a new Iran.
If there is to be a provisional government in a post-ayatollah Iran, sources generally agree it would initially be composed of leaders of recent protests who are on the ground in the embattled country.
As to when such a change of government might occur and who would be in charge, that remains anyone’s guess.
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