In Iran, the regime has indeed changed: It's less restrained, more hard-line
www.csmonitor.com

... Every night, thousands of fervent, flag-waving supporters of Iran's Islamic Republic take to the streets to vent vitriolic rage at their American and Israeli attackers.

They celebrate surviving 40 days of war, a fragile ceasefire, and now negotiations in which they believe Iran has the upper hand.

The chants also herald another change: The ascendance of a new hard-line cadre of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has stepped up as the United States and Israel have assassinated scores of senior military and political figures, including the longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

U.S. President Donald Trump, invoking an initial and oft-cited war aim, says he has achieved "regime change" in Iran, and that the new leaders are "less radical and much more reasonable" than before.

But analysts say the decapitation campaign has, instead, enabled the rise of the most hard-line elements of the IRGC, which now feel freshly emboldened and less willing to compromise to end the war. ...