Ayatollah Khamenei had led Iran for 37 years. He was killed in the opening hours of the campaign. Three days later, Iran had a new Supreme Leader in place. The Iranian system is a blob — you can kill the leaders, but you can't kill the institutions.
Where this was said
At 1:23:20 · chapter starts 1:11:02
The episode closes with an extended, riveting interview with CNN's Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen, who entered Iran during the bombing campaign by flying to Armenia and driving 14 hours to Tehran as industrial areas burned along the route [1] — Frederik Pleitgen "Pleitgen flew into Armenia, drove nine hours to the Iranian border, then drove another 14 hours to Tehran as bombs fell on industrial areas…" 1:15:30 . He describes the human impact: no bomb shelters in a city being hit by 2,000-pound bombs, businesses destroyed, an entire steel industry wiped out, a local baker killed by the blast that took out a nearby police station. Ordinary Iranians largely wanted the war over and hoped for economic relief; frozen asset release was the key demand from officials up to Supreme Leader advisors. The government's support was weakened by the protest crackdown but increased during the bombing as rallying-around-the-flag dynamics kicked in. At an IRGC ceremony, Pleitgen found morale high and the organization emboldened [2] — Frederik Pleitgen "Senior IRGC leaders were killed in the early stages of the war, but the organization reconstituted itself, struck back, and projected power…" 1:21:30 — having reconstituted after major leadership losses, struck back effectively, and projected power into the Gulf. The single most striking moment he witnessed: Iran striking Israel's Dimona nuclear facility within hours of Natanz being hit, proving command-and-control was never broken. He closes with the counterintuitive observation that Iran, nominally a theocracy with one supreme authority, required institutional sign-off from multiple bodies for every decision — while the US, nominally a democracy, effectively had one man calling the shots.
Iranian officials told Pleitgen they considered the return of approximately $24 billion in frozen assets to be a key goodwill gesture from the United States.
Pleitgen flew into Armenia, drove nine hours to the Iranian border, then drove another 14 hours to Tehran as bombs fell on industrial areas along the route. There were no bomb shelters. 2,000-pound bombs in dense urban areas. The impact was felt by everybody.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen has traveled to Iran approximately 45-46 times, making him one of the most experienced Western correspondents covering the country.
Estimates of those killed in the Iranian protest crackdown range from roughly 3,000 to 40,000, with the true figure extremely difficult to verify.
Senior IRGC leaders were killed in the early stages of the war, but the organization reconstituted itself, struck back, and projected power into the Gulf. At a memorial ceremony Pleitgen attended, morale was high. The war that was supposed to destroy them made them stronger.
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