India, March 3 -- The reported death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is more than the end of a long leadership chapter in Tehran; it unsettles the balance of power across West Asia. For over three decades, Khamenei was not just Iran's Supreme Leader - he was the custodian of ideological continuity, the final arbiter between clerical authority and military assertiveness, and the ultimate voice in matters of war and negotiation. His absence comes at a moment when restraint in the region was already thinning.

The Iran-Israel rivalry has long operated in shadows. Unclaimed assassinations, untraceable cyber strikes, attacks on distant convoys, and sabotage of tankers created a tense equilibrium - a conflict that signalled resolve without provoking ...