US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House last night: "We've already had regime change [in Iran]. We overthrew one regime, and then we overthrew the other regime. Now we have a group of people who are very different. They're much more reasonable, I think they're much less radical. We've had regime change."

In fact, alongside the series of assassinations, several key figures in Iran survived the attacks, including the speaker of parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf; the president, Massoud Pazakhian; and other senior Revolutionary Guards officials. At the same time, Tehran acted quickly to appoint replacements for the senior officials who were eliminated – a move that demonstrates that the government apparatus is still functioning.

A number of senior Iranian officials have been killed since the beginning of the war:
The Supreme Leader of Iran – On the first day of the war, Ali Khamenei, who had served as Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989, was killed. He was killed in an Israeli attack on Tehran, in which members of his family and other senior officials were also killed. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, survived the attack, although the American government claims he was injured in it. He was later appointed his successor, but has not yet spoken publicly.