DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — After six months of war, Iran's leadership has coalesced around a hard core of military generals and clerics long entrenched in the ruling theocracy. They are ready for a potentially long confrontation with the U.S. and determined to prevent any unrest at home.
It's a far cry from U.S. President Donald Trump's initial hopes of toppling the Islamic Republic and his subsequent claims that "regime change" had brought more compromising officials to the fore.
WATCH: News Wrap: Friday marks 6 months since Iran war started
Iran's new leaders evince little faith in any agreement with Trump — after coming under attack twice while holding talks — and they may be bracing for another assault once the U.S. replenishes its supplies of interceptors. They have also threatened to escalate the war as a continuing American blockade and Trump's plans for new sanctions threaten to suffocate Iran's already worsening economy.
"If (Trump) wants to do something, we will retaliate in a seismic manner," the new secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said last weekend. In a post on X, he said that "if the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported" from the Persian Gulf.
