Iran's head of state and religious leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed in targeted attacks, as were other high-ranking members of the government. This was made possible by informants in Iran who provided intelligence agencies with information about the routines and whereabouts of the leadership, says intelligence and security expert [CEP Senior Director] Hans-Jakob Schindler. 

"Once again, Persia is trying to wipe out the Jews," said Lipowsky, a research analyst for the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit with offices in New York. "We're getting our own live reenactment of the Purim story."

For many Israelis, the blare of the siren and race to shelter has become an all-too-familiar ritual in recent years. The alarms went off throughout Saturday, Sunday and Monday, after the attack on Iran by America and Israel.

Extremism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler [CEP Senior Director] says, while the perpetrator of the German Christmas market attack had been uniquely radicalised, they have been becoming more common since COVID-19.

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler on the terrorist threat level in Germany because of the war against Iran. 

Terrorism expert [CEP Senior Director] Hans-Jakob Schindler analyzes Iran's increased drone attacks on the Gulf region and the challenges of defending against them.

Even after the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the regime is not necessarily facing collapse. "Iran is not a classic dictatorship like Bashar al-Assad in Syria or Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. When they were no longer in power, the regime collapsed,“ Hans-Jakob Schindler, head of the Berlin think tank Counter Extremism Project, told our editorial team. ”If Khamenei is no longer in office due to a military strike or a heart attack, there are still several centers of power. That's why the regime continues to function. It is designed for sustainability."

The death of Ali Khamenei is a serious blow to the Iranian regime—but it does not automatically mean regime change. That is the view of terrorism expert [CEP Senior Director] Hans-Jakob Schindler in an interview from New York. “It is a very important first step,” says Schindler. However, he adds that the system of the Islamic Republic is deliberately designed so that it does not depend on a single person.

Ali Khamenei shaped Iranian politics for over three decades as the supreme religious leader. Now he has been killed in attacks – Iran's political future remains unclear. Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed.

In Iran itself, several possible developments are emerging following the attacks and Khamenei's death. Hans-Jakob Schindler, head of the Berlin-based think tank Counter Extremism Project, told the Funke Media Group that the system is distributed across multiple centers of power and does not depend on a single individual.

However, such platforms largely escape government regulation. Hans-Jakob Schindler from the transatlantic think tank “Counter Extremism Project” explains that regulating an industry requires an industry partner on the other side that generates commercial profits and can therefore be held accountable to ensure that products or services do not cause harm. In the case of isolated IS forums, however, there is no legally identifiable operator who can be held liable.