Over the weekend, President Trump announced that U.S. strikes on Iran killed the country's

supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hamine.

This wretched and vile man had the blood of hundreds and even thousands of Americans on his hands and was responsible for the slaughter of

countless thousands of innocent people all across many countries.

There are reasons why previous American presidents haven't gone after Homenei, even though he was

always a brutal dictator and an infamous sponsor

of terrorism all over the world. They feared that an attack on Iran would prompt a broader

Middle East war. They feared that the theocrats and military hardliners in the country would not

give up power so easily. All these fears are still very valid. And yet, here we are, with Hamine dead and no real

plan for a democratic transition. Combat operations continue at this time in full force,

and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved. We have very strong objectives.

I'm Hannah Rosen. This is Radio Atlantic. What President Trump wants out of Iran has always been vague.

Maybe regime change, maybe a nuclear deal. The strikes on Saturday gave him a clear victory in the killing of

Hamé, but the conflict has already escalated outside Iran, and Trump's endgame has

remained vague. Since the strikes, he's brought up Venezuela as a model, where the U.S.

removed the leader, but the regime itself stayed in place. That might seem like the simple solution, but the factions inside Iran are already fighting for power.

Trump keeps repeating that the people of Iran should rise up and take power.

Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future

that is close within your reach. This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.

There is, however, no obvious opposition leader. So what are the real possibilities for Iran's

future and the U.S.'s role in shaping it?

Today, we're talking to Iranian writer and Atlantic contributor, Arash Azizzi, and to staff writer Ann Applebaum, who covers democracy around the world.

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