Iran proves that it might change its military leaders, but it’s not changing strategy

Military appointments in authoritarian states, particularly during wartime, reveal priorities, threat perceptions, institutional loyalties and leadership fears. The new military and security hierarchy under Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei should therefore be read as more than the reconstruction of a command structure damaged by war.

It is an order of battle with two purposes: confronting the United States and Israel abroad and preserving the Islamic Republic against instability at home.