Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said at a press conference Friday that Iran’s leadership has “gone underground, cowering, that’s what rats do,” after being profoundly weakened by U.S. attacks in the country.

He also questioned the authority of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a U.S. attack at the beginning of the conflict.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd talks to Afshon Ostovar, professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School and writer for Foreign Affairs, about the new Supreme Leader.

This segment aired on March 13, 2026.