Senate Murphy: ‘We’re not going to get a democracy’ out of Iran conflict by Tara Suter - 03/01/26 3:34 PM ET by Tara Suter - 03/01/26 3:34 PM ET Share ✕ LinkedIn LinkedIn Email Email NOW PLAYING Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Sunday that a democracy will not arise from the conflict in Iran , adding that “an even worse Iranian leadership” is going to come out of the fighting. “Now, the president has said that the goal is regime change, and the goal is to eliminate Iran’s missile program and their nuclear program. He is not going to succeed in either of those endeavors. His intelligence agencies have already told him that the most likely outcome is that hard-line members of the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] replace the current leadership,” Murphy told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.” “So, we’re not going to get a democracy. We’re going to get an even worse Iranian leadership. We already know that you can’t bomb their nuclear program out of existence. He told us last year that he had obliterated the program, and then apparently, over the course of the last year, they had gotten back to within a week,” he added. Israel and the U.S. on Saturday morning launched strikes against Iran following recent tension between Washington and Tehran. Shortly after, Iran retaliated via attacks on Israel and Gulf countries, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia . Joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Saturday killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with President Trump announcing the leader’s death Saturday afternoon . “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump said on Truth Social. “This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS,” he added. Iran also named interim leadership in the wake of the strikes that killed the supreme leader, per Iranian state television. In a post on the social platform X on Sunday, Iranian state television Press TV said members of an interim leadership council include Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Guardian Council jurist member Ayatollah Alireza Arafi and head of the Iranian judiciary Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i. The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment. Add as preferred source on Google Tags Ali Khamenei Chris Murphy Donald Trump Iran Iran strikes Margaret Brennan Masoud Pezeshkian regime change Senate Democrats Trump administration Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Share ✕ LinkedIn LinkedIn Email Email More Senate News See All House This week on The Hill: Lawmakers grapple with Iran conflict by Sudiksha Kochi 1 hour ago House  /  1 hour ago