A tyrant falls. Dangerous global uncertainty begins

It is natural to hope that the decapitation of this regime could lead to the end of Iran’s theocracy. Yet it is also important to consider the context — and the long-term risks that it creates for both Iran and the United States.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei governed Iran with the vigilance and brutality of an autocrat convinced that his own people and the world’s superpower sought to unseat him — and in the end, they did. 

With President Trump’s announcement that Ayatollah Khamenei, the 86-year-old supreme leader, was killed in joint American and Israeli airstrikes on Saturday, his reign has come to a close, cementing a lost half-century for his nation. 

As the Middle East confronts an unpredictable void, let us be clear: No one should mourn the death of a dictator who spent decades inflicting misery and bloodshed.

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