Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced today that Iran’s powerful national security chief Ali Larijani and the head of the Islamic Republic’s Basij paramilitary organization were “eliminated last night.”
If Tehran confirms the death of Larijani, it would be the most high-profile assassination since the deaths of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other top officials during the US-Israeli strikes that started the conflict on February 28, according to AFP.
Katz stated on TV that Israel’s military leader had told him that Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary organization, “were eliminated last night.”
He stated that the two leaders “have joined Khamenei, the head of the annihilation program, along with all those who have been removed from the axis of evil in the depths of hell.”
An Israeli military officer stated that the army had also attacked Akram al-Ajouri, a high-ranking military commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in Iran and was trying to figure out if he had died.
Ajouri led the al-Quds Brigades, the group’s military wing, which is active in the West Bank and Gaza. He also took part in Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli official said that Larijani was “the de facto leader of the Iranian regime,” and that he had been “calling the shots and moving the pieces around” for the previous two weeks and before that.
The office of the Israeli prime minister put out a picture of the prime leader on the phone with the statement, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders the elimination of senior figures in the Iranian regime.”
Earlier, the Israeli military said they killed Basij chief Soleimani “in a precise strike in Tehran.”
“Yesterday (Monday), the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, targeted and eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, who had been the commander of the Basij unit for the past six years,” it claimed.
The Israeli army reported that during the recent huge protests in Iran, the Basij, a volunteer militia under Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, “led the main repression operations” by the authorities.
The military reported that an air strike on a “makeshift headquarters” killed Soleimani and other Basij commanders.
Protests against the clerical establishment in Iran reached an all-time high in January.
According to human rights groups, thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands were jailed during the crackdown.
In the last few days, the Israeli military has declared that it was targeting Basij checkpoints built up around Tehran to weaken the government’s hold on power.
After Katz’s remark, our reporters in Jerusalem heard loud explosions and sirens in northern Israel. This was after a warning that Iranian missiles were on their way.
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