Pezeshkian’s apology for the targeting of neighboring countries, along with the temporary leadership council’s approval to suspend the strikes, has raised questions about the council’s ability to control the IRGC overseeing military operations against the U.S. and "Israel."

As Israeli-American strikes pounded Iran, Tehran retaliated by targeting Gulf states over their hosting of U.S. military bases, prompting urgent questions about why countries such as Turkiye, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, which host similar facilities, were spared.

As Iranian strikes expanded beyond U.S. bases in the Gulf and official threats of military retaliation mounted, questions intensified over whether the Gulf states might be drawn—against their will—into the fire of war.

U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s top leaders, with calls for uprising, but analysts say the regime’s complex system may endure.