Is the Iranian regime really in a "state of collapse" as Trump claims?

World Trump says Iran's government is in a "state of collapse," but analysts see evolution, not fractures By Frank Andrews Frank Andrews Journalist Frank Andrews is a CBS News journalist based in London. Read Full Bio Frank Andrews May 7, 2026 / 1:45 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google President Trump has said "infighting and confusion" within Iran's ruling regime is partly why it's been so difficult to strike a deal to end the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28.Analysts tell CBS News, however, that while power structures are shifting, there's little evidence of divisions hampering Iran's leadership, and Mr. Trump's rhetoric may be more an effort to find a scapegoat as the White House grapples to present its own policy objectives.Trump says "nobody knows who is in charge"A month after former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the first wave of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, sparking a war that has shocked the global economy for more than two months, President Trump announced that regime change in Iran was "complete.""The next regime is mostly dead," he said just days after strikes began on Feb. 28, adding that U.S. negotiators were speaking to "a whole different group" of "very reasonable" people.He's changed tack in recent weeks, attributing slow diplomatic progress on a deal to end the war at least partially to Iran's nearly five decade-old theocratic regime being "seriously fractured" and in a "state of collapse.""There is tremendous infighting and confusion within their 'leadership," Mr. Trump said in a late April social media post. "Nobody knows who is in charge, including them."Ultimate political, military and religious authority has long rested with a single figure in Iran, the supreme leader. Iran named Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as the new holder of that title not long after his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first wave of strikes. A man walks past a large banner depicting Iran's current supreme lead...