OPINION: Battered Iran may turn more repressive, Japan should mediate with Gulf

The U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran apparently sought to topple the regime and bring the campaign to a swift end through a "decapitation operation" targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. However, Iran is not a one-person regime but rather an institution, and the system is still in place.Contrary to the wishful thinking from the United States, the choice of Khamenei's second son as his successor shows the increasing influence of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.In the United States, the idea of regime change in Iran by military operation has been debated from time to time since th…READ FULL ARTICLE