In Face of Supreme Leader's Surgery, Tehran Considers a Post-Khamenei Iran

Iranian state media have been making a conscious effort to reassure the public that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is recovering well after prostate surgery. However, the surgery has raised questions about Khamenei's health and how his potential incapacitation would affect the clerical regime or alter the nature of the Islamic republic. Moreover, it would create an opening for both the pragmatic conservative government and its hardline opponents and thus aggravate the ongoing power struggle in Tehran.