US-Iran Ceasefire Collapses As Mojtaba Khamenei’s Absence Fuels Tehran Power Struggle

The United States and Iran have resumed strikes after a fragile ceasefire collapsed, with Washington launching fresh strikes on Iranian military targets and Tehran carrying out retaliatory attacks against US positions and Gulf allies. The breakdown of the truce has coincided with a growing political dispute inside Iran, where hardline factions are accusing senior officials who negotiated with Washington of undermining the Islamic Republic.

The conflict has exposed divisions within Iran’s leadership following the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, while uncertainty over the public role of his successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, has intensified accusations against President Masoud Pezeshkian, chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. CNN reported that hardliners have accused the country’s visible leadership of attempting a “coup” against the new supreme leader, while Reuters reported that renewed US-Iran strikes have raised the risk of a broader regional escalation.

US and Iran return to strikes after ceasefire breakdown

The United States said it had completed an eighth consecutive night of attacks against Iran after announcing that two US military personnel were killed in Jordan and another was missing following an Iranian attack.

US Central Command said the airstrikes began at 6pm ET (2200 GMT) on Saturday at President Donald Trump’s direction.

“The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night,” Central Command said in a statement.

Central Command later said the strikes had hit Iranian military coastal surveillance and air defence facilities.

Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that the US carried out an attack near Sirik in southern Iran, adding that no casualties or damage to infrastructure had been reported. The Tasnim news agency said the US military also targeted a location near Shadegan, close to Iran’s border with Iraq.

Reuters reported that Iran’s army later carried out a drone attack targeting US military assets and equipment at Kuwait’s Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al Salem Air Base. Iran’s state television reported the attacks, citing a statement from the army.

Central Command said the two US service members were killed on Friday and that a third service member was missing in action. Reuters reported that the deaths brought the number of US service members killed since the conflict began to 16, while more than 420 had been wounded.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: “Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”

Reuters reported that Iran also appeared to target Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and other US Gulf allies following American strikes on Iranian bridges, power facilities and other infrastructure.

In a written statement carried by Iranian state media and the official social media accounts of Iran’s supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said US actions had shown that Donald Trump’s signature was “utterly worthless and devoid of credibility.”

The statement warned of “even heavier costs and further humiliation” for the United States.

The whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei remain unclear, Reuters reported.

Hardliners accuse Iran’s leadership of a ‘coup’

CNN reported that Iran’s internal political tensions intensified after the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, with his funeral becoming a gathering point for hardline factions opposed to the ceasefire agreement with Washington.

As President Masoud Pezeshkian walked alongside Khamenei’s coffin in Tehran, some mourners reportedly chanted “death to the compromiser” at him.

CNN reported that Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s top diplomat who negotiated a ceasefire with the Trump administration and lifted some sanctions on the Islamic Republic, was forced to leave the funeral after a mob threw rocks at him while accusing him of being a “traitorous sellout”.

Hardline factions have accused Iran’s wartime leaders of abandoning the principles of the Islamic Republic by signing an agreement with Washington. CNN reported that their anger has grown because Mojtaba Khamenei has remained largely out of public view since becoming supreme leader.

Khamenei has not directly addressed the nation or visibly asserted his authority, according to CNN, even as officials continue to govern in his name.

Hardliners have accused Iran’s visible leadership of attempting to consolidate power by sidelining parliament, challenging the authority of the supreme leader and weakening their influence over wartime decisions.

“Warning to the people of Iran: Is a coup on the way??” Mahmoud Nabavian, an outspoken radical lawmaker, asked on X days before Khamenei’s funeral.

“In these moments of farewell to the martyred Imam (Khamenei), we raise the banner of vengeance for his blood and stand firm against the coup,” he wrote days later.

Arash Azizi, a US-based Iran expert and author of the book “What Iranians Want,” told CNN that Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence had increased tensions among hardline factions.

“Mojtaba’s continued absence means that they don’t have access to him and also that Ghalibaf and allies are effectively in charge of the country… the ultra-hardliners have thus accused Ghalibaf and Pezeshkian of plotting a ‘coup’ against Mojtaba,” Azizi said.

Political struggle grows as IRGC gains influence

CNN reported that the weeklong funeral for Khamenei became an opportunity for Iran’s most hardline supporters to demand retaliation against the United States and reject the agreement negotiated with Washington.

The fragile ceasefire all but collapsed after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to assert control over the waterway, according to CNN. The attacks prompted US retaliation and renewed calls from Iranian hardliners to abandon the truce.

Before the fighting resumed, hardliners had publicly threatened officials who supported negotiations.

“Mr President, if the leader’s conditions are not fulfilled, then it will be us, the blade and your throat,” Mohammad Ali Bakhshi, a security-linked “Maddah” – or religious singer who is loyal to the Iranian regime – warned Pezeshkian during a ceremony. “We will bring hell upon you.”

CNN reported that the threat against the president was widely criticised, but Bakhshi was not known to have faced legal repercussions.

Ghalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guard commander and Iran’s chief negotiator with the US, emerged as one of the most influential figures in Tehran’s wartime leadership, according to CNN.

“They are trying to elevate the role of the Supreme Council for National Security while diminishing the role of the supreme leader and parliament,” Kamran Ghazanfari, a hardline parliamentarian, said in a video statement early July, referring to the council now deciding the country’s most sensitive wartime affairs. “This is the political coup they have designed and are carrying out step by step.”

CNN reported that Nabavian, one of the leading critics of the agreement, was later removed from parliament’s National Security Commission along with another lawmaker opposed to the deal.

Nabavian had been part of Iran’s negotiating delegation before turning against the talks and attempting to derail the agreement by leaking the text to the media before it was signed, CNN reported.

The lawmakers are linked to “Jebhe-ye Paydari” (the Endurance Front), a hardline movement whose members are often described by observers as “Super Revolutionaries”. The group presents itself as a defender of the values of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew Iran’s pro-Western monarchy and established the Islamic Republic.

CNN reported that the group’s numbers are small, but it holds influential positions across parliament and Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, which launched campaigns against the president.

One of its prominent figures, former national security chief Saeed Jalili, received more than 13 million votes in Iran’s 2024 presidential election, finishing second. Iran’s population is around 93 million, according to CNN.

Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told CNN that Iran’s visible leadership was attempting to reduce the influence of hardline factions.

“We’re seeing Ghalibaf exerting influence to sideline these hardline elements,” Azizi said. “They are too costly for the system and they’re bringing their rivalries out in the open especially as the situation in Iran becomes unstable.”

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly described Iran’s Islamic Republic as “seriously fractured”, arguing that internal divisions have complicated negotiations, CNN reported. However, analysts cited by CNN said Iran’s leadership remains united around ending the war while securing sanctions relief and maintaining control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Strait of Hormuz becomes key flashpoint

Reuters reported that the Strait of Hormuz has become a central point of confrontation between Iran and the United States, with both sides targeting shipping activity.

The waterway normally handles around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei accused the United States of seeking control of the strait.

The US Central Command said earlier strikes had targeted Iranian surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities.

Iran’s state television reported that US airstrikes in southern Hormozgan province killed three people and wounded eight others, while two bridges and a road tunnel were damaged. Iran’s Health Ministry said 50 people had been killed and more than 500 wounded in US strikes over the previous three weeks, according to Reuters.

Reuters reported that Iranian forces claimed attacks against US positions in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

Kuwait’s armed forces said they had intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, with firefighters and oil sector workers injured while responding to the attacks, Reuters reported.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck a US military support centre at Kuwait’s Camp Arifjan and destroyed a radar facility at Ali Al Salem Air Base. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation later said one of its oil facilities had been hit in repeated Iranian attacks, causing significant damage and injuries, according to Reuters.

Iranian media reported that the IRGC also targeted a site in Bahrain where US combat aircraft were gathered at Sheikh Isa Air Base and an intelligence data centre.

The IRGC claimed it destroyed at least two US fighter aircraft and three other aircraft during a missile and drone attack on the US base at Al Azraq in Jordan. Reuters said it could not independently verify the claims.

Saudi Arabia’s early warning system issued alerts for residents of Al-Kharj and Yanbu, urging them to seek shelter. Reuters reported that the alerts were triggered by an Iranian missile attack, although the Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The US State Department issued a worldwide travel alert for Americans abroad, citing heightened tensions in the Middle East and warning that flight cancellations and airspace closures could disrupt travel.

“My suggestion is that we go to one of the US bases in the region, where there are hundreds, maybe thousands of these American terrorists,” former Iranian foreign minister and hardline figure Manouchehr Mottaki said in a televised interview on Wednesday. “It would be enough if we take 100 soldiers and bring them back to Iran.”

The renewed fighting has left Iran’s leadership facing external military pressure and internal political tensions, with the status of the ceasefire and Tehran’s next steps unclear.