How Iran war could hurt India’s strategic interests, help China’s territorial ambitions

The killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a joint Israeli-American strike has plunged the Islamic Republic into profound uncertainty and heightened fears of instability across West Asia.

With no clearly designated successor and the supreme leader holding ultimate authority over state policy, the sudden removal of a figure who shaped Iran’s political and security architecture for decades leaves a consequential power vacuum at the heart of the system.