Hussein Banai, associate professor of International Studies at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, part of Indiana University's College of Arts and Sciences, lent his expertise to the Vox news analysis “Iran’s new supreme leader is a no-show at his father’s funeral. Where is he?” exploring the uncertainty surrounding Iran’s leadership in the aftermath of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran for 36 years, was killed in airstrikes on February 28, the first day of the war. His son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen in public since assuming the role in March, communicating only through written statements. His silence—and his absence from his father’s funeral ceremonies in early July—has intensified questions about his health and about who is actually making decisions in Tehran.
Banai noted that while the formal powers of the office remain unchanged, its influence has waned: “There is evidence that the power that the supreme leader exercises has diminished significantly.”
The supreme leader, Banai explained, has traditionally functioned as the regime’s coordinating center, bringing Iran’s competing power centers—the religious establishment, the elected government, and the military—into alignment behind a unified message. Today, he observed, that coordination is conspicuously absent, with the president and the parliament speaker each speaking for themselves.
Banai’s research sits at the intersection of political thought and international relations, with a focus on U.S.-Iran relations, Iran’s political development, democratic theory, and diplomatic history. He is co-author of Republics of Myth: National Narratives and the US-Iran Conflict and co-editor of International Studies Review, the flagship review journal of the International Studies Association. His commentary on Iran regularly appears in national and international media, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time, and NPR.
At the Hamilton Lugar School, Banai teaches in the Department of International Studies, where students learn to analyze exactly these kinds of questions—how power, ideology, and diplomacy shape world events as they unfold. His engagement with journalists and policymakers reflects the school’s commitment to bringing rigorous, globally informed scholarship to public understanding of international affairs.
The article is also available at MSN news.