marked by the absence of a decisive, authoritative referee.

The old Ayatollah Khamenei was authoritative, but not decisive, just look at his nuclear policy, it was the worst of both options precisely because he could not decide on one path.

I don't doubt there is at least a temporary reordering of the power structures, but a lot of that seems to have to do with the fact that currently the new Ayatollah is if not incapacitated, then in a diminished state due the wounds he's recovering from.

This article feels like it's telling a partial truth, to help sell the complete lie that the Trump administration has been pushing regarding to Iran being in total disarray.

Oh yay, Trump actually figured out how to make Iran's government worse! What a winner he is!

Oh good, some institutional chaos. I'm sure this will help resolve all the problems.

Now there literally isn't anyone to negotiate with.

Great. Military junta....