REUTERS

Iran’s veteran supreme leader and a host of other top figures and Revolutionary Guards commanders have been killed in US-Israeli strikes but the ruling system has maintained its ability to strategise and operate in the war that began on February 28. Here is a guide to who now wields power and influence in a depleted but resilient hierarchy:

IS SUPREME LEADER REALLY IN CHARGE?

Iran’s veteran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in one of the first strikes of the war. In office since 1989 he enjoyed unquestioning obedience throughout the system and the last say on all major issues.

Under Iran’s official ideology of velayat-e faqih, or ‘rule of the Islamic jurist’, the supreme leader is a learned cleric wielding temporal power on behalf of Shia Islam’s 12th imam, who disappeared in the ninth century.

The leader’s office, known as the bayt, has a large staff that shadows other parts of Iran’s government, allowing the leader to intervene directly across the bureaucracy.

The new leader, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, has inherited the role and its extensive formal powers, but he lacks the automatic authority enjoyed by his father. The choice of the Revolutionary Guards, he may also be beholden to the hardline military corps.

ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS CORPS

The Guards have been growing in influence for decades, but in the midst of a war and after the killing of Ali Khamenei and installation of Mojtaba Khamenei, they have assumed an even more central role in strategic decision-making.

Long prepared to withstand decapitation of their leadership, the Guards have a “mosaic” organisational structure with a line of replacements already named for each commander, and every unit able to operate independently according to set plans.

Many top-ranking Guards commanders were killed early on - following a long list of senior commanders killed in strikes last year - but they have been replaced with other experienced men who have so far proven able to manage a complex war effort.

WHAT ROLE DOES LEADERSHIP PLAY?

Iran’s political system merges clerical rule with an elected president and parliament, and they all have a significant role in running the Islamic Republic along with the Guards.

The killing of the late Khamenei’s main adviser Ali Larijani was a real blow to the ruling authorities given his extensive experience, his ability to operate between Iran’s different power centres and his skills negotiating with the outside world.

Other capable, experienced political figures remain but the more prominent ones likely to step into the shoes of Larijani and other assassinated individuals may be more hardline than those who have been killed.

WHO ARE SOME OF THE BIG NAMES LEFT?

Revolutionary Guards head Ahmad Vahidi, revolutionary Guards’ Qods Force chief Esmail Qaani, revolutionary Guards naval head Alireza Tangsiri, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, judiciary Head Ayatollah Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, President Masoud Pezeshkian, former Supreme National Security chief Saeed Jalili, Guardian Council member Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.