Follow the leader: Iran picks the son

What It Covers

This episode covers three stories: Iran's appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader following his father's death in US airstrikes, escalating infrastructure attacks across the Gulf region pushing oil above $100 per barrel, Trump administration cuts to US scientific research, and a growing global shortage of tenor singers in choirs.

Key Questions Answered

• •Iran's dynastic succession: Mojtaba Khamenei, chosen as Iran's new supreme leader, lacks ayatollah-level clerical credentials and has no significant public record. His selection signals regime continuity but is unpopular even among regime supporters who see it as replacing the 1979 revolution's overthrown monarchy with a new one. Real power likely rests with the Revolutionary Guard during this wartime transition.
• •Third Gulf War escalation pattern: Both sides have shifted from military to infrastructure targeting. Israeli strikes hit Tehran fuel depots; Iranian drones struck Saudi oil fields, a Bahrain desalination plant, and Bahrain's main oil refinery. Goldman Sachs projects oil could reach $150 per barrel. Saudi Arabia has explicitly threatened to enter the war if its oil industry sustains serious damage.
• •US science funding cuts — concrete damage: NIH faced proposed 40% cuts; the Department of Energy's solar research budget was cut by roughly one-third while coal research expanded 260%. Approximately 7,500 Department of Energy grants worth $7.5 billion were canceled in late 2025. One University of Colorado solar researcher lost an $8 million federal grant and now faces closing his lab entirely.
• •Vaccine infrastructure erosion: The health department removed $1.2 billion in mRNA research grants and reduced recommended childhood vaccines from 13 to seven without standard analytical review. Four government vaccine advisory committees were dismissed or suspended. The US is currently experiencing its largest measles outbreak in decades, with each individual measles case costing approximately $150,000 to manage publicly.
• •Tenor shortage mechanics: Women outnumber men in choirs roughly two-to-one across Europe, the US, and even Nigerian church choirs. Tenor is the hardest choral voice to develop because it requires trained technique — untrained male voices default to baritone. Choirs now compensate by hiring paid "stiffeners" for final rehearsals, recruiting female tenors, or selecting repertoire that eliminates the tenor part entirely.