The dust from the recent decapitation strikes in Tehran has yet to settle, but the most devastating blow to the Islamic Republic is not physical; it is constitutional. Conventional wisdom in Washington dictates that authoritarian regimes always possess an impenetrable contingency plan. The assumption has long been that upon the death of the Supreme Leader, the Assembly of Experts would simply convene, rubber-stamp a pre-selected loyalist, and allow the brutal machinery of the state to grind on uninterrupted. However, the recent elimination of the Leader alongside several critical figures in the regime’s hierarchy has fundamentally altered the math. The United States and Israel have not merely killed a dictator. They have triggered a Constitutional Black Hole, ensuring that the next “Supreme Leader” of Iran will be a legal usurper from day one.

To understand the profound crisis currently paralyzing Tehran, one must look at the regime’s own rulebook. The Islamic Republic is obsessed with the illusion of legal legitimacy, heavily reliant on complex, overlapping frameworks to justify its theological dictatorship. Under Article 111 of the........

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