Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, enters power as the Islamic republic faces its most serious crisis.

When President Donald Trump first raised the prospect of war with Iran, some of the most serious reservations came from his second in command.

Whether any mines had been laid in the Strait of Hormuz since the war began on Feb. 28 is unclear. The Pentagon said 140 American service members had been wounded, eight severely, in the war.

Retired General David Petraeus spoke to CNN on Thursday night about the war in Iran:

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba was chosen by Iran's Assembly of Experts to succeed his late father as supreme leader, in a sign that hardliners were still

President Trump says the Iran war will end "very soon," but Tehran says it's "prepared to continue attacking" indefinitely, and it won't let oil leave the Gulf.

Iran maintains ties with a range of countries, including Turkey, India, Russia and China. Yet in this war, their support is mostly rhetoric.

On Saturday, President Trump said Iran had issued an apology to neighboring Middle East countries and agreed to stop firing at them, framing the move as a capitulation driven by sustained U.S. and Israeli military pressure.