The United States has entered a new war in the Middle East – alongside Israel – launching strikes inside Iran.

Iranian authorities say civilians have been targeted, including in a strike on a girls’ primary school in Minab – killing more than a hundred children. Israel says it’s targeting the regime’s military and nuclear infrastructure. And across the region, Iran has already fired missiles and drones at Israel and at Arab states hosting American forces.

Then came the most consequential announcement of all: Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is dead.

Khamenei was the centre of Iran’s power for decades – and his death leaves the country’s leadership in flux, at the exact moment the conflict is spreading.

Today, Dr Bader Mousa Al-Saif – a Gulf politics expert, assistant professor of history at Kuwait University and non-resident fellow at The Arab Gulf States institute – on the goal of regime change in Iran and whether Gulf states will pick a side.

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Guest: Gulf politics expert and assistant professor of history at Kuwait University, Dr Bader Mousa Al-Saif

Photo: EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH