Sen. Tom Cotton says "not a simple answer" as to who will lead Iran now
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"There's probably a lot of jockeying inside of Iran right now, they have a very consultative, deliberative process to replace the Supreme Leader," Sen. Tom Cotton said Sunday on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."
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Face The Nation Sen. Tom Cotton says "not a simple answer" as to who will lead Iran now By Caroline Linton Caroline Linton Associate Managing Editor, Politics Caroline Linton is an associate managing editor on the political team for CBSNews.com. She has previously written for The Daily Beast, Newsweek and amNewYork. Read Full Bio Caroline Linton March 1, 2026 / 9:03 AM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that there's "not a simple answer" as to who will lead Iran after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a massive U.S.-Israeli military operation a day earlier. "I don't think anyone can give you a simple answer," Cotton said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan . "There's probably a lot of jockeying inside of Iran right now; they have a very consultative, deliberative process to replace the supreme leader. There's a reason why he didn't want to have a clear succession plan in place." The U.S. and Israel on Saturday launched a massive military operation inside Iran, which continued Sunday. Iranian state media said at least 200 people were killed in the country, while Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel and allies in the Middle East, killing at least six people in Israel and one in Abu Dhabi, and wounding dozens more. Khamenei, 86, who had ruled Iran as supreme leader since 1989 and was only the second person ever to hold the role, was among those killed, President Trump said Saturday. The Israel Defense Forces said in a press conference Saturday that seven Iranian officials and commanders were killed, including Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Khamenei. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in January that "I don't think anyone can give you a simple answer as to what happens next in Iran if the Supreme Leader and the regime were to fall, other than the hope that there would be some ability to have somebody within their systems that you could work towards a similar transition." ...
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