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For now, the clearest signal from Mojtaba Khamenei’s first intervention is that Iran’s leadership transition has not produced a softer or more uncertain line in public. Instead, his debut message was defiant, militarised and steeped in the language of martyrdom, revenge and endurance. Yet the central image that accompanied it was not a triumphant leader before the nation, but a still photograph on state television while others read his words aloud. That contrast may prove to be one of the defining features of this early moment in his rule: a leader elevated by hardline institutions, invoking resistance and escalation, while questions about his condition, visibility and grip on a battered state continue to hang over Iran’s future.
