Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by / Jonathan Crane
00:28 Donald Trump / US President
01:23 Alex Vatanka / Middle East Institute

Script:

00:01
The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei means Iran needs to pick its third supreme leader.

Khamenei's second son, Mojtaba Khamenei, is considered the leading contender.

Sources have told DW Persian that he's already been chosen.

But with Iran under attack, there's been no official confirmation.

Donald Trump worries about another hardliner taking charge.

00:27
+++SOT Donald Trump, US President+++
"I guess the worst-case would be we do this, and then somebody takes over who's as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen. We don't want that to happen. That would probably be the worst. You go through this, and then in five years, you realize you put somebody in who is no better."

00:43
A more moderate option could be Hassan Komeini, here on the right.

Viewed as more of a reformist, he's a grandson of the Islamic republic's founder and first supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini.

Israel has threatened to assassinate whoever the current regime picks.

While in Iran, a continuation of dynasties is unlikely to go down well with all those who risked their lives to protest against the regime earlier this year.

On the opposition side, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah, has put himself forward.

But critics point out the monarchy was widely hated.

01:22
+++SOT Alex Vatanka, Middle East Institute+++
"Best case scenario is that the decapitation strategy that the United States and Israel are pursuing creates such a vacuum at the top that you need really a new set of leaders to come in, a very different set of leaders to come in. Some of them could emerge from what's left of the regime. They would have to link up with the opposition outside the country that seems to have a much clearer vision in terms of what a different Iran going forward would look like."

But with no clear opposition, and the regime fighting for its survival, nothing is certain in Iran.

ENDS