Five months after the death of Ali Khamenei, Iran’s ruling establishment is experiencing one of its most severe internal crises in decades. Public disputes among senior officials, competing political factions, state media, and clerical institutions have intensified, revealing a leadership struggling to maintain cohesion under mounting political and social pressure. Growing Signs of Institutional FragilityThe escalating public confrontations suggest that the succession following Khamenei’s death has failed to restore political stability. Instead, competing factions appear increasingly willing to challenge one another openly, often using state institutions and official media as platforms for their disputes. As these rivalries intensify, the regime’s ability to maintain internal cohesion appears increasingly uncertain, exposing vulnerabilities that were previously concealed behind the appearance of centralized authority.