By: Fern Sidman

As air raid sirens wailed across Iran for the third consecutive day, and plumes of smoke rose from some of the Islamic Republic’s most guarded military and nuclear facilities, a deeper crisis was unfolding within the regime itself. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the architect of Iran’s defiant posture on the world stage for over three decades, is now facing a rare and mounting backlash from within his own government, according to The Express of the UK.

Israel’s intensified air campaign—launched in retaliation for repeated Iranian aggression and nuclear escalation—has shaken the foundations of Tehran’s national security apparatus. The Israeli strikes, which began in earnest on Friday, June 13, have already resulted in the destruction of key nuclear facilities, major oil and gas infrastructure, and the deaths of several senior Iranian generals and nuclear scientists. According to The Express, the operation has exposed deep vulnerabilities in Iran’s defenses and thrown its leadership into disarray.

By Sunday, June 15, Israel had carried out strikes for a third straight day, stunning Iranian observers with the precision and reach of its campaign. Perhaps most damning was the apparent failure of Iran’s famed air defense systems, long touted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a deterrent to external threats.

In a series of leaked private messages obtained by The New York Times and cited by The Express, officials from within Iran’s elite circles voiced open frustration and confusion. “Where is our air defense?” one official asked. Another, reportedly from the IRGC’s internal command, lamented: “How can Israel come and attack anything it wants, kill our top commanders, and we are incapable of stopping it?”

The critique isn’t merely academic. The loss of high-level figures—combined with damage to critical sites such as the Arak heavy water reactor and missile launch sites near Qom—has shaken confidence in the regime’s military preparedness.

Among those expressing concern is Hamid Hosseini, a member of the energy committee at Iran’s Chamber of Commerce. Speaking to domestic media and referenced by The Express, Hosseini acknowledged that the leadership had been “completely caught by surprise” and admitted that Israel’s strikes had “exposed our lack of proper air defense.”

More unsettling to the regime was the revelation that some of the attacks may have originated from within Iran’s borders. Israeli security officials told The Express that operatives from the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, had smuggled weapons into Iran in the weeks preceding the assault. These assets, strategically placed near surface-to-air missile systems and military installations, were reportedly used in coordinated strikes that complemented the aerial bombardment.

A particularly audacious element of the campaign, according to Israeli sources, involved the launch of explosive drones from within Iran itself, which disabled key missile launchers and radar systems outside Tehran just hours before Israeli fighter jets arrived overhead.

The Supreme Leader’s public response came in the form of a brief, pre-recorded address aired during the first wave of Israeli airstrikes. Standing against a green backdrop, Khamenei declared that “the military was prepared to counterattack,” vowing that Israel would “regret its aggression.” Yet, as The Express reported, his words did little to stem the growing discontent percolating inside Iran’s ruling class.

Critics within the clerical establishment and the IRGC are reportedly questioning the wisdom of Tehran’s hardline posture, particularly after the collapse of backchannel negotiations with the United States in Oman. Talks originally scheduled for Sunday, June 15—meant to explore renewed terms for nuclear de-escalation—were abruptly canceled after the Israeli campaign began. Multiple Iranian analysts have since conceded that Tehran “miscalculated” in assuming Israel would not strike so close to the diplomatic table.

Iran has responded with retaliatory missile barrages targeting Israeli cities, killing at least 13 people, including children. Tehran’s Ministry of Health reported that 78 Iranians had been killed and more than 320 wounded in the ongoing campaign, according to The Express. The regional implications are grave. With casualties mounting on both sides, and neither government signaling a willingness to halt operations, analysts warn that the conflict could spiral into a prolonged regional war.

Despite the bloodshed, the Israeli government has indicated that its military objectives have not yet been fully realized. A senior IDF source told The Express that Operation Rising Lion would “continue until the Iranian regime’s nuclear and military capacity is irreversibly degraded.”

For Khamenei, the stakes are more than military—they are existential. His leadership, once buttressed by decades of revolutionary ideology and regional assertiveness, now faces a crisis of legitimacy. Iran’s vaunted “Axis of Resistance” has been shaken, its proxy networks in Syria and Lebanon disrupted, and its domestic population—already weary from economic hardship and international sanctions—now confronting the specter of all-out war.

As the report at The Express of the UK observed, this is not simply a battle between two nations. It is a struggle for the soul of the Iranian regime—one whose supreme leader may soon find that the greatest threat to his rule comes not from Israeli jets, but from the unrest brewing in his own corridors of power.

Whether Khamenei can weather this storm, or whether Israel’s campaign has set in motion a historic turning point for the Islamic Republic, remains an open—and perilous—question.