How Iran has changed, and how it hasn’t, in two months of war

News|US-Israel war on IranHow Iran has changed, and how it hasn’t, in two months of warCommon Iranians face job losses and shortages. But key institutions remain in place, with hardliners stronger now.ListenListen (8 mins)SaveClick here to share on social mediashare-nodesSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoMourners gather during a funeral procession in Tehran, Iran, on April 1, 2026, for Alireza Tangsiri, the head of IRGC Navy, and others killed in Israeli attacks in late March [Vahid Salemi/AP Photo]By Maziar MotamediPublished On 28 Apr 202628 Apr 2026Tehran, Iran – Much has changed for Iranian authorities and more than 90 million people in the country since the United States and Israel launched the first strikes on Tehran two months ago.Yet some elements of how Iran works and who controls key decisions have only become more entrenched.The war appears far from the finish line, and there is no clear view of where things will stand at the end, but what has transpired so far may offer some clues.Leadership changesUS President Donald Trump has insisted multiple times that “regime change” has already materialised in Iran, since several layers of officials have been killed, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others at the top.But the main institutions of the Islamic Republic remain in place, and his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was quickly elected by a clerical body as the successor.Military, security, political and judicial authorities have renewed their pledge of allegiance to Khamenei’s office and the theocratic establishment, even though the new supreme leader has not been seen or heard from outside several written statements attributed to him.Motorcyclists ride past a billboard that shows a graphic depicting Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, April 6, 2026 [Vahid Salemi/AP Photo]The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), founded to safeguard the establishment after the 1979 revolution, continues to take the lead on military operations, wield significant economic power, particularly from managing Iran’s natural resources, and maintain armed control on the streets through the paramilitary Basij and other forces. Advertisement The new secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, is among the IRGC old guard believed to be aligned with Ahmad Vahidi and Ali Abdollahi, the other generals appearing unwilling to grant major concessions to Washington. Zolghadr has replaced Ali Larijani, a veteran diplomat and ideologue, who was killed in a missile attack in March.The judiciary, which announces near-daily executions and arrests of dissidents, and the hardline-dominated parliament were untouched during the war. State television and other media outlets remain directly controlled or influenced by the IRGC or factions like the hardline Front of Islamic Revolution Stability, or Paydari Front, and broadcast state messaging by any means possible, including through artificial intelligence-generated videos.Relatively moderate Masoud Pezeshkian, who became president in 2024 in an election with a historically low turnout, just like the low turnout for parliamentary elections, is mostly relegated to domestic affairs and some diplomatic messaging.The reformist and moderate politicians who backed his candidacy, like former Presidents Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami and former chief diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif, are fiercely reviled by the hardliners.State media…

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