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Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL), Is Interviewed About Iran's Supreme Leader Killed In Strikes; Kash Patel: FBI On Elevated Alert Nationwide. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired March 01, 2026 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington, and we are following breaking news this hour. Iranian state media has now confirmed that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled that country for more than 36 years, is dead. An announcer appeared on Iranian state television to deliver the news, breaking down dramatically in tears.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

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SCIUTTO: Keep in mind, this is Iranian state television. President Donald Trump says Khamenei was killed following a series of military strikes by Israel and the U.S. It is, though, believed that it was Israeli strikes that took out the Iranian leader.

He was reportedly killed in his compound in central Tehran. Iranian state media reports the country's top general and a key advisor to the late Supreme Leader were also killed. President Trump says he knows exactly who he wants to lead Iran next. He would not say who exactly.

The Israeli military says it launched a new wave of strikes on Iran just a short time ago, and we are getting reports of explosions into Iran. The IDF says it is targeting Iran's ballistic missile and aerial defense systems.

Iran is threatening to retaliate with what it calls, "The heaviest offensive in its history." It has already struck U.S. military bases as well as Israeli civilian population centers. Now CNN teams are hearing new explosions in Doha and Dubai.

That Iranian retaliation does appear to be continuing. A number of other targets across the region were also struck, including residential buildings and major airports. CNN's Ivan Watson is joining us live from Hong Kong. Julia Benbrook, she's standing by in West Palm Beach, Florida. Ivan, you've been watching this closely. We had reported, as we -- as you heard just then, that is -- that Iran is promising a new wave of strikes. Are we beginning to see the result of that new wave of strikes?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does seem like a fresh wave of strikes, ranging from Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan in northern Iraq, and the U.S. does have military installations in that city, smoke reported there, and also reports of smoke and explosions in Doha, the capital of Qatar, that has been heard by CNN journalists there, as well as in Dubai.

So all accounts are suggesting that a fresh wave of what Iran has been using in the past 24 hours, they could potentially be missiles, they could potentially be drones that have attacked a series of airports across the Gulf, in Dubai, in Doha, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and Kuwait. The airspace over a number of those Gulf countries are -- is closed right now.

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And meanwhile, the Iranian government and military are vowing, in the words of the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, "The heaviest offensive operations in the history of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic to begin." There are 40 days of mourning declared within Iran, not only after the supreme leader, who has ruled the country for 38 years, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed, but also Iranian state media confirming that the top general, Major General Mohammad Pakpour, and a key advisor, Ali Shamkhani, were other top officials that have been killed in the first 24 hours of this allied U.S.-Israeli bombardment.

So we are seeing a tremendous eruption of violence in the Middle East. Iran reporting that more than 100 people have been killed in what it says was a bomb strike on a girls' school in one part of Iran that is located near to a military installation there. At least one person was killed at Abu Dhabi International Airport by strikes. So we're hearing more accounts of civilians being caught in the crossfire as these just enormous munitions are flying back and forth across this incredibly fraught region right now.

There had been reports in "The New York Times," for example, well reported that Ayatollah Khamenei was preparing a line of succession in the event that he would be killed. He did survive an assassination attempt in 1981 that left his right arm paralyzed. And there were, again, reports that he was preparing for what could happen if this erupted into conflict again.

So we'll have to watch and see how the Islamic Republic of Iran will try to move forward from what has clearly been a very punitive and deadly series of strikes by the U.S. and Israel, effectively a decapitation strategy that has succeeded to some degree, removing a long-time adversary and enemy of Washington and the Israeli government. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Julian Benbrook, President Trump has given somewhat contradictory signals in a number of interviews in recent hours, saying on the one hand that these strikes could be in multiple waves, and that's been our reporting as well, but also saying that perhaps he could end it and in effect declare victory, right, and perhaps go back to the negotiating table. Are White House officials communicating where we stand in these strikes, early stages, or might the president pull the plug?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right off the top here, I do want to note, Jim, that we are not expecting to see President Donald Trump again here tonight because the White House, they've called a lid, and essentially that means that the reporters, journalists traveling with the President will not see him again today.

We could, however, hear from him on social media. As we've seen throughout the day, he has been posting to Truth Social some of the big developments happening there, starting with that eight-minute video that he posted announcing these strikes, and in that he called on the Iranian people to seize control of the government once U.S. military operations have concluded. He also warned that American lives could be lost in this operation.

Now, he later in the day posted confirming that Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah, had been killed. This is something that Israeli officials had also confirmed, and the Israeli military had shared a list of top senior Iranian officials who had been killed as part of this operation, Operation Epic Fury, as the administration has been referring to it. But in that post, Trump went into some specifics on that.

I want to pull that up for you. He said, in part, he was unable to avoid our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems and working closely with Israel. There was not a thing he or other leaders that had been killed along with him could do, adding that he believes this is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country.

Then in that same post, he said that this operation will continue uninterrupted throughout the week or as long, really, as he deemed necessary. We have heard a couple of different timetables as to how long this could take place. But it all comes after the United States and Iran had participated in several high-stakes talks when it comes to Iran's nuclear capabilities.

And the most recent, led by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, take place in Geneva on Thursday. And as that ended, it was clear that there were still significant gaps between the two when it came to negotiations. Throughout that process, though, the administration continued to say that Trump wanted to find a diplomatic solution here.

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SCIUTTO: Julie Benbrook, thanks so much. Ivan Watson as well.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats, even some Republicans, they are criticizing President Trump's decision to attack Iran without going to Congress first. Many in Congress now questioning whether the attack is legal. Democratic leaders are demanding their GOP colleagues bring Congress back to session immediately to hold a formal vote on the strikes in Iran, a vote that would surely become a test of loyalty for some in the Republican Party.

Joining me now is Cory Mills. He's a House Republican, member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also the Armed Services Committee. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. We appreciate you taking the time.

REP. CORY MILLS (R-FL): Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Listen, it's a remarkable 24 hours. The supreme leader of Iran is dead, as are several senior members of the Iranian leadership. A number of Iranian missile strike -- sites struck, nuclear sites as well. And it's our own reporting that the U.S. military is prepared at least for multiple waves of strikes to be carried out over days. My first, most basic question to you, do you welcome these strikes? Were they justified?

MILLS: Well, absolutely, they're justified. I mean, when you think about the fact that Iran has been responsible for the death and the maiming of many American soldiers over the years, you think about what was taking place under Qasem Soleimani and the Quds Force in Iraq. You think about the proxy militias as Iran continued to be the leader in the state sponsoring of terrorism with Hamas, Hezbollah, Qatayef, Hezbollah in Iraq. Hashd al-Shaabi, the Houthis, et cetera.

Not to mention the fact that Iranians, just like in many of the Middle East, they truly respect strength more than they respect, you know, the arbitrary wording of a line in the sand or weak paper, as we saw, when they continue to violate JCPOA or what was also known as U.N. Resolution 2231 by shipping mid-range and long-range ballistic missiles to the Houthis to continue their attacks.

And so not only is it justified to try and stop the heinous attacks and barbarism, the subjugation of women and oppression under the Islamic dictatorship, but also to protect American interests, American lives, and also that of our allies in the region.

SCIUTTO: Well, to your point, no one knows the effect of Iranian support for those malicious terror groups in Iraq that took so many lives of U.S. soldiers there. You, of course, served in Iraq yourself, and it was, of course, the Iranians who supplied those shaped charges that made some of those IEDs so powerful. I'm curious, is it clear to you what the U.S. strategic objective is with these strikes? Is it just to weaken the regime, or do you believe it rises to the level of regime change? Is that what the President is seeking here, and is that what he should be seeking here?

MILLS: Well, I think that we've moved well beyond the ideas that we tried to have diplomatic resolutions. We asked them to get rid of their nuclear enrichment capabilities, to stop the mid and long-range ballistic capabilities that was targeting the United States as well as for other areas in the region, as well as to try and allow IAEA to come in and do the necessary inspections. You know, the President would have preferred a diplomatic effort. He's been continuing these talks many hours a day with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

And when those, you know, talks failed and you still have the leader chanting death to America and taunting America and continuing its efforts to fund its proxy militias, I think at that point we're not looking at regime change but regime elimination, looking at ushering in a new era for the Iranian people that can be led as a transitional or a caretaker government by Reza Pahlavi, who is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, something that was actually instated 47 years ago before it fell to an Islamic dictatorship, and then looking at a democratic process for free and fair elections.

But we must not repeat the mistakes of Iraq and Afghanistan. This is not about nation-building or boots on the ground. This is not about 20-year wars or the ideas of putting together a, you know, for example, 2005 Iraq constitution that set forth sectarian democracy under Article 76. This is about allowing the Iranian people to take fate into their own hands and lead to a free and fair election that guarantees the sovereignty that Iran deserves.

SCIUTTO: As you know, there are some of your Republican colleagues criticizing U.S. military action in Iran. Representative Thomas Massie says that the war is not America first, and he's not alone. Some of the polling indicates that as well. Has the President explained to those in his own party who are not just skeptical of U.S. military action in the region but oppose it quite publicly, has he explained to them why this is consistent with his America first policy?

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MILLS: Well, the President has, but unless you've been sleeping under a rock for the last 20-plus years or hadn't ever served in Iraq and saw what the Iranians were doing, I think that it's very clear that Iran had already partnered with Russia, China, and North Korea to go ahead and look at this geopolitical alignment targeting the West and trying to strengthen itself not just to eliminating the U.S. dollar as a global currency but trying to actually target Americans and our allies in various regions.

And so I think that when they talk about constitutionality, when they talk about Article 1, Section 8 of the War Power Authorities of Congress, or specifically Sections 11 through 13, they fail to remember that in 1957, 1991, 2001, and 2002, the Congress abdicated their roles and responsibilities under what was called the Authorized Use of Military Force. And so when the President designates an organization as a terrorist organization, that falls under the GWOT, Global War on Terrorism, not to mention the Executive Two Privileges and War Power Authorities of the President and executive office itself.

So not only is this constitutional, not only does this fall under AUMFs, but it was necessary in order to try and protect our allies' national security interests and United States personnel in the region.

SCIUTTO: I don't have to remind you, given you're an Iraq veteran yourself, and again, this is different from the Iraq War. We don't have tanks on the border preparing to occupy, but a lot of the rhetoric, and I covered the war, it was better there a number of times, is reminiscent, at least, right? I mean, you remember the talk then. We have overwhelming power. We will crush them. The people will welcome us, right? I mean, you remember those statements, and that we will keep the casualties under control. And none of those things prove to be true.

And I just wonder, given you're a veteran yourself, and you know the cost of war, right? You want a bronze star in war. Do you have any worry that this could get out of hand, right, and that for all the pronouncements of we have this under control, this is a great success, that we don't know what's going to come next, and that the cost could be higher than the President is estimating?

MILLS: Well, the difference is that we're not having troop buildup to put boots on the ground like we did with Afghanistan and Iraq. As you've seen with this President, whether it was the operations in Venezuela or other operations, he's about getting precision strikes, getting in, getting out.

And also, we didn't look at the George W. Bush era of nation building. We didn't try to come in and implement democracy. We were freeing a society of dictatorship so that the actual people who are of that nation take fate into their own hands. And so this is very different under this President than you've seen in different administrations. So this isn't about buildup. This isn't about prolonging or oppression or, I should say, not just liberation but kind of occupation.

This is about trying to ensure that the people on the ground that President Trump said help is on the way are getting the necessary help so they can take fate into their own hands, and the Iranian people can free themselves as they've been doing, because this revolution is like nothing that anyone has ever seen. This isn't the 12-day war. This isn't the '05 Green Revolution. These are a young generation who wants to be free of Islamic dictatorship and oppression.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Cory Mills, we appreciate you joining us this evening.

MILLS: Thank you so much. Great to be with you.

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SCIUTTO: Well, there is concern over possible Iranian retaliation on American soil. We're going to hear from CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst on just how severe that risk might be.

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SCIUTTO: The FBI says its counterterrorism and counterintelligence teams are now on elevated alert nationwide in a post on X, formerly Twitter, FBI Director Kash Patel said he is calling for the mobilization of, "All assisting security assets needed." Law enforcement officials say increased surveillance and security measures are likely amid concerns about potential Iranian retaliation, which could include not just cyber attacks to energy or governmental infrastructure, but also concerns about potential, at least, of terrorism.

For more, I want to bring in CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller. John, good to have you. First, on the terror threat, we know that Iran has terror capabilities around the globe. Do those extend to the U.S. homeland conceivably? And if not the U.S. homeland, to other U.S. targets around the world?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So they certainly have and they certainly still can. How do we know that? Over the last three years or more, we have learned a lot about the Iranian intelligence footprint in the United States, starting with the attempt to kidnap Masih Alinejad, the vociferous Iranian regime critic who has hundreds of thousands of social media followers here. That kidnap plot was thwarted.

It was followed by amping that up with Iranian intelligence officers trying to hire basically foreign organized crime people on the ground here to assassinate her. We also know there was another plot to assassinate former National Security Advisor John Bolton in retaliation for the death of the IRGC Iranian head, Qasem Soleimani. We know that there was a plot, according to an informant who disclosed it to the FBI, where he was approached by Iranian agents to attempt to kill Donald Trump before he was reelected when they thought security would be too high to avenge the same death.

So we have seen numerous plots of Iranian intelligence officers trying to use cutouts from criminal organizations and others to commit assassinations on U.S. soil. You can imagine, Jim, if those were the stakes then, what could happen in retaliation for the death of the supreme leader, the head of intelligence, so many other officials.

SCIUTTO: No question. Listen, what you just described is quite concerning. And as you note, there is a history here. I wonder from an intelligence perspective, as you assess the threat, if the regime's calculation is they are in their death throes, right, literally and figuratively here, the supreme leader has been killed, as have many senior leaders, Iran Revolutionary Guards, et cetera, does that raise the likelihood potentially that they would carry out such attacks, right? In other words, it's almost a nothing to lose approach.

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MILLER: Well, you know, the analogy is the most dangerous kind of animal in attack mode is a wounded animal. And here you have a regime where, as you point out, there's going to be very little to lose. So what does that distinction mean from an intelligence standpoint? That means that what I described before, you know, these cases where I remember the day, actually, when, you know, we saw the suspicious activity around one of the target's houses.

We got a description of the car out. We stopped the car and we found the assassin in the car with the AK-47 in a suitcase in the back, multiple rounds of ammunition. These were very real plots. But these were all targeted violence by the regime against individual players for specific reasons. What we did not see, and this could come into play now, is the kind of plot which would involve attacking a location with the intent of multiple casualties.

It was a line they wouldn't cross, but desperate times come for desperate measures, which is why Kash Patel alerted all of the JTTFs in the 55 field offices, the Joint Terrorism Task Forces, to be on alert. Another FBI source told me, what does that mean? That means contacting all of your informants and human sources in the Iranian target threat set and polling them for, have you heard anything? Have you seen anything? You know, make sure we stay in close touch. Reviewing wiretaps, not just court-ordered ones on U.S. soil, but any intercepts from overseas that could be relevant to hear from the NSA. It means really going over your open cases from that target set and seeing, is there anything else that you need to be looking into right now?

SCIUTTO: Yes, and also I might say, if you see something, say something, right, as they always say to members of the public. John Miller, I appreciate you joining.

MILLER: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Joining us now, CNN political commentator Sabrina Singh. She was former deputy Pentagon press secretary in the Biden administration. Sabrina, it's good to have you because you've been in the room, right, as consequential decisions are being made, including military action. I wonder what's your best read as to what's happening in the Pentagon right now, as decisions are being made, targets are being picked, right, decisions about bomb assessments are being made. Describe that process now as it's underway.

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, well, the Pentagon is a machine and the people working there are working tirelessly and around the clock and not just there in the Pentagon, but, of course, at U.S. Central Command. And so what is happening is the Pentagon is providing regular updates to the secretary and the chairman of sort of the posture in the Middle East and making sure that they are updated on any attacks on U.S. forces in the region, any bases, and also on where our fighter pilots are, if they are conducting other additional operations.

And the secretary and the chairman are getting those updates. And then sometimes there are what we would call sink calls that are basically done across the interagency, where the Pentagon participates, the State Department, CIA, of course, others that have equities in this operation. And those calls sort of bring everyone together to just get on the same page, share information.

And then, of course, after that, the principals like the secretary and the chairman are briefing the President. And the President is, of course, getting regular updates throughout the night. I mean, I know he has an event tonight at Mar-a-Lago, but, you know, he will be getting regular updates throughout the evening into the early morning hours. Whenever he needs them, they will be updating him.

SCIUTTO: I know that messaging, public messaging from the Pentagon, from the administration in the age of Trump is fundamentally different, right? Because, you know, things that might have typically been briefed from the podium in the Pentagon or the White House come straight through Truth Social, right? Acknowledging that different means of communication from where you're sitting, has this administration explained to the American people what's going on and why?

SINGH: Well, I think definitively no. You know, just earlier this week, and it seems like, you know, almost decades ago, but earlier this week, the President gave his State of the Union, and that would have been the absolute perfect time to lay out to the American people and of course, in front of Congress on why you are going to take action in Iran. But Instead, overnight, nearly 24 hours ago, you know, the American public woke up to learning that we are at war in Iran and the President calling it that.

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So I don't think the objectives have been defined -- I mean the objective clearly was defining that this was about regime change, but was the case made to the American people. I still struggle with that, and I don't think anyone here on either side of the aisle is going to defend the actions of the supreme leader or any of those, you know, his thugs in Iran.

But there has to be some accountability and transparency, and I think, frankly, putting out a true social video in the middle of the night, no briefing, no press conference from the President, no briefing from the Pentagon explaining just kind of the basics of the operation is certainly something in the Biden administration we never would have been able to get away with. But it's frankly just not what the American public deserves. They deserve to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent and why and why they are being spent in the way that they are right now.

SCIUTTO: Well, speaking of posts, Trump has just made a new post to social media saying the following. I'm quoting now. Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before. They better not do that, however, because if they do, we will hit them with a force that has never been seen before. Exclamation point. Thank you for your attention to this matter. How he often ends these messages here. Sabrina, is that a well, what does that tell us? I mean, it tells us that this isn't over, certainly right, because there would presumably be a retaliation to the Iranian retaliation.

SINGH: Right. I think this this administration has been pretty open about broadcasting that this is going to go beyond just those 24 hours of strikes. And what's different about what we saw overnight is that Iran pretty much immediately responds and responded during that 12 day war in June of last year. It took Iran about a day to respond to the U.S. and Israel joint strikes or the U.S. strikes. So I think what you're going to see here is Iran potentially activating their larger proxy group network.

You know, we, of course, have assets and bases within Iraq and Syria. We've seen their proxy groups attack our bases. When I was in the Biden administration, we have not seen that turned on yet. So I imagine that's something that Iran is considering. But also, we don't really know who's in charge right now. And I think there is obviously a vacuum that's going to need to be filled.

And, you know, when Donald Trump said to the Iranian people, it's in your hands. Well, what does that mean? Whose hands? How can they take back power? So there's a lot of questions that we still don't know.

SCIUTTO: And an enormous risk to themselves, as we saw during the previous protests that were met with such a bloody crackdown. Sabrina Singh, thanks so much.

SINGH: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And there's more ahead. Please do stay with CNN.

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SCIUTTO: What you're hearing there, the sound of celebration breaking out in Tehran and other Iranian cities, this after the death of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader. Iranian state media has now confirmed the supreme leader was killed in his compound in central Tehran by strikes earlier today.

Iran's official news agency now says the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has launched what a sixth wave of attacks, not just on Israel, but also on U.S. bases in the region. This video, geolocated by CNN, shows what appears to be a new Iranian attack on Dubai, that's smoke rising near Dubai's international airport. There have also been reports of smoke or explosions in Doha, in Qatar, and in Erbil, Iraq.

That is where the U.S. maintains a base. CNN State Department reporter Jennifer Hansler joins me now live from Washington. And Iran had promised another round of retaliation, and we do appear to see that underway. But also, Israel says it is carrying out more strikes. Do we know, is the U.S. carrying out more strikes?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, we don't know, Jim, at this point, if the U.S. is carrying out more strikes, but Trump has certainly warned that could be the case. We heard from him earlier last night, saying that strikes would continue, what he called pinpoint strikes, as long as necessary to bring what he called peace in the Middle East to the region.

And we just heard from him just a little while ago on Truth Social, saying that as Iran is warning that they'll hit very hard, that they should not do that, because if they do, they'll hit them with a force that has never been seen before. So, of course, there is a huge potential here, not only for an ongoing tit-for-tat between Iran and Israeli and U.S. forces, but also for a broader regional escalation here. This is something that has a lot of allies incredibly concerned, Jim, that there could be this spiraling of tensions, spiraling of this conflict into the broader Middle East and beyond that.

Rubio met with his G7 counterparts last night. He spoke to them on the phone. We haven't heard a good readout necessarily from the U.S. yet, but the Italian foreign minister said one of the things that was discussed was trying to avoid a widening of this conflict. So there is a huge, huge risk of this spiraling out of control at this point, Jim, and a lot to be seen about what exactly is going to be done to try to have an off-ramp here.

SCIUTTO: No question, and perhaps we'll have to wait for those off- ramps. Jennifer Hansler here in Washington, thank you.

[00:39:09]

Still to come, we will go live to Tehran to speak to the journalist Abas Aslani for a view from the Iranian capital. That's just after the break. You're going to want to hear this. Please do stay with us.

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SCIUTTO: Iranian state media has been reporting that dozens of students were killed during the U.S.-Israeli strikes earlier on Saturday. The attack at a girls' school in southern Iran. Iranian state media is now saying 148 people were killed, 95 others injured. We should note CNN has been unable to independently verify whether those reports are true.

The school is located, we should note, just 200-feet from an Iranian military base. Saturday is the first day of the school week in Iran. The Middle East's longest-serving head of state is now dead. For nearly four decades, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled Iran with an iron fist.

As the supreme leader, Khamenei oversaw the expansion of Iran's regional influence and its nuclear program. Khamenei's English- language ex, formerly Twitter account, posted this tribute earlier. Citing a verse from the Quran, the post said, in part, among the faithful are men who fulfill what they have pledged to Allah.

CNN's Nic Robertson has more on the rise and fall of Iran's longest- serving Ayatollah.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): He was once the most powerful cleric in the world. Iran's supreme leader is head of state and commander-in-chief. Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the country's undisputed religious and political authority for nearly 40 years. Rarely compromising with Iran's archenemy, the U.S., but also a master tactician who empowered hard-line supporters inside Iran to the detriment of moderates and reformers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ali Khamenei was really an accident of history. He's someone who, when he was named supreme leader in 1989, people had very low expectations of him.

[00:45:02]

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Khamenei was an activist before the Islamic Revolution, helping organize protests against the Shah and serving time in prison for it. He was a student and close associate of Ayatollah Khamenei, the charismatic figure who led Iran after the Shah was toppled. He was also a target for the regime's opponents and escaped an assassination attempt in 1981 that left his right arm paralyzed.

Not long afterwards, he was elected president on a platform deeply hostile to the West and its comparatively liberal ideology, especially to the United States, threatening a hard fight should there ever be a war between the two rival nations.

AYATOLLAH ALI HOSSEINI KHAMENEI, IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER (through translator): We in no way are willing to start an all-out war with the United States, but if it so happens, we will inevitably put up a very strong defense.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): When Khamenei died in 1989, Khamenei became his successor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had enormous shoes to fill, the shoes of the late Ayatollah Khamenei, the father of the revolution. But he died one of the most powerful men in Iran of the last two centuries. He was someone who had amassed tremendous power. He is not only one of the most powerful men in Iran, but I would argue one of the most powerful men in the Middle East.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): 2009 brought about the first real challenge to his rule. Demonstrations claiming elections had been rigged. Khamenei met it with force, widespread arrests, and calls for unity.

KHAMENEI (through translator): Arm-wrestling in the streets is not the right thing to do after the elections. I want everyone to put an end to this. If they don't stop this, then the consequences, the rioting and everything, they will be held accountable for all.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Again and again, his regime faced calls for moderation. In 2022, the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being arrested by the so-called Morality Police, and the Women, Life, Freedom movement swept the country. His support for Iran's nuclear energy program and missile programs defied much of his country's relations with the West, whose governments feared Iran would develop nuclear weapons.

Under Khamenei, Iran's influence extended into Iraq after Saddam Hussein's ouster. Tehran also became a major player in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. And yet, in the wake of Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, he saw Iran's regional influences collapse.

Israel's devastating attacks in Lebanon neutered Iran's most powerful proxy force, Hezbollah. And a lightning offensive by Syria's rebels saw another steadfast ally, dictator Bashar al-Assad, flee for the safety of Moscow. It presaged perhaps the most devastating blow yet.

In June 2025, Iran and Israel launched what would become a 12-day war, Tehran attacking Tel Aviv with long-range missiles and the U.S. joining Israel in bombing Iran's nuclear facilities. In just a few short years, Khamenei's entire security strategy seemingly collapsed. Billions spent on proxy forces, missile and nuclear development, vanished. Khamenei tried to put a brave face on it.

KHAMENEI (through translator): They are desperate. In the 12-day war, they received such slaps that they couldn't believe it. They hadn't anticipated it. They became desperate. This person, Trump, went to boost their morale. He went to pull them out of despair.

[00:49:10]

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Khamenei's legacy is yet to be written. Overreach, burying the aspirations of the Iranian people in a region whose geopolitics were being upended and a theocratic government trying to stick to old ideals, failing to adapt to the 21st century.

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SCIUTTO: We're going to go live now to Tehran in the midst of ongoing strikes in both directions. Abas Aslani is an Iranian journalist and researcher. First, Abas, if I can ask you what you're witnessing, what you're hearing right now in Tehran.

ABAS ASLANI, IRANIAN JOURNALIST AND RESEARCHER: Well, you know, following the initiation of a new round of attacks and strikes against the country, we were seeing, you know, reactions from the Iranian side. All of a sudden, early this morning, there was news coming as a shock to the public that the leader was killed on Saturday morning.

But in the meantime, we are seeing that Iran is responding to the attacks coming from the Israeli and American side. The reason is that the country was not caught off guard this time compared to the last June, you know, 12-day war. And this indicates that they have learned lessons integrating them into the current conflict with the United States and Israel.

The killing of the Iranian leader is a big loss for the country, might create a vacuum for this. But he was the architect of an architecture and infrastructure that seems to be working and operating even in his absence. And that's why we're seeing that yet the system works and the country is, you know, actively responding against American and Israeli attacks.

But this back and forth continues, you know, occasionally, at least from the American side, but Iran continuously is responding. And as it had warned, this has been changing into not just a bilateral battle, but a regional, you know, confrontation.

SCIUTTO: What is the succession plan for the supreme leader?

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ASLANI: Normally, in the absence of a leader, whether he is dismissed or he is killed or he dies, an interim council forms comprised of the president, the chief of the judiciary, and a guardian council cleric. And this council is responsible for the transitional period by the time that the assembly of experts, a body which is responsible to elect a new leader, will decide about, you know, electing a new leader as quickly as possible.

The constitution, you know, has defined this interim council, but it has not, you know, specified any timeline to choose the new leader. So that's why they are supposed to elect a new leader as quickly as possible, but by the time that they do it, the interim council, including president, judiciary chief, and a guardian council cleric will be responsible leading this transitional period.

SCIUTTO: But to be fair, numerous Iranian leaders have been killed, military leaders and the supreme leader. It is under attack, and it has been under repeated attack going to last year. Can this regime survive this?

ASLANI: Well, it has survived so far, and even the assessments ahead of this, you know, aggression were indicating that through military strikes, you know, you cannot bring a change to the political system in the country. And, you know, in order to do that, you know, more than a military strike is needed, and it seems that they are trying to somehow eliminate the leaders, political or military, you know, leaders in the country, and to target the military infrastructure in the country. But --

SCIUTTO: OK. We're going to have to leave it there. Apologies, Abas, because I understand where you are in Tehran. We're out of time. We'll have to leave it there, but please let's keep in touch. Abas Aslani in Tehran. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington, and I'll be right back with more of our breaking news coverage.

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