S10 Ep34: Iran After Khamenei with Phillip Smyth

Israel has killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The IRGC's senior leadership is decimated. The CIA is reportedly arming Kurdish opposition forces along the Iran-Iraq border. Phillip Smyth — one of the foremost experts on Iran's Shia proxy networks — joins Matt to make sense of what comes next: why Khamenei's succession is far more fraught than most analysis acknowledges; why the proliferation of "new" armed groups on the battlefield is largely a disinformation campaign run by established militias; the limits of a Kurdish covert action strategy; why a regime that survives under Khamenei’s son would look essentially identical to the one the Israelis just tried to destroy; and Smyth's warning about the apocalyptic messianic splinter groups that could emerge from the rubble of a collapsing theocracy.

You can listen to S10 Ep34: Iran After Khamenei with Phillip Smyth online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

S10 Ep34: Iran After Khamenei with Phillip Smyth is an episode from Secrets & Spies.

This episode is 85:06 long.

This episode was published on Mar 7, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Secrets & Spies when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.