Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is facing the most serious crisis of his decades-long rule following the U.S. strike on multiple Iranian nuclear facilities, according to a leading analyst — as the world waits to hear any official response from the 86-year-old leader.

“Khamenei is arguably in the most dire situation of his entire life as an autocrat,” said Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

“He’s in a bunker. He’s 86 years old. He has limited physical, cognitive bandwidth. Most of his top military commanders were assassinated. He doesn’t control his own airspace. Israel controls it,” Sadjadpour explained. “And, you know, there’s no way out of this war. He can’t win this war. He’s outmatched militarily, financially, technologically.”

Khamenei has yet to release any public statement since the United States carried out the dramatic strikes on three major Iranian nuclear sites. Prior to the attack, he warned that Iran would not surrender and vowed that any U.S. military involvement would bring “irreparable damage.”

Meanwhile, President Trump, who reportedly rejected a proposal from Israeli officials to target Khamenei directly, said last week that Iran’s Supreme Leader is an “easy target.”

The question now looming in diplomatic and intelligence circles is whether the pressure on the regime could lead to its collapse — a scenario that could dramatically reshape the region but also spark widespread instability.

Khamenei, who took the reins of power in 1989 after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, has ruled the Islamic Republic for more than 35 years and is the country’s highest authority. His regime was built on the ashes of the Shah’s pro-Western monarchy, toppled during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

“The Supreme Leader has survival instincts, but he also has defiant instincts,” said Sadjadpour. “And he’s having a real struggle in my view, reconciling those two.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)