Israel claims to have killed Irans top security official and Basij commander

Israel’s Defence Minister Katz has made a claim that Iran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, has been assassinated. The Iranian government has not commented on this claim.

According to Israel’s Defence Minister Katz, two high-profile individuals have been targeted by Israel: Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij militia. Iran has not confirmed either of these claims.

A handwritten note published by Larijani on his social media accounts commemorates the memory of 84 Iranian sailors killed in a US attack on their boat in international waters. The funeral is expected to be held on Tuesday.

If confirmed, this would be the highest-level assassination since the United States and Israel struck down former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several members of his family during the war launched on February 28.

Larijani was last seen publicly attending an al-Quds day rally in support of Palestinians in Tehran. He has been a key figure in Iran’s government for years, previously leading nuclear negotiations with the West and serving as Speaker of the Parliament.

Israel’s Defence Minister Katz stated that “the leaders of the regime are being killed and their capabilities terminated.” The Israeli military also claimed to have targeted Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij unit, in a strike in Tehran. However, Iran has not confirmed this claim either.

Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, noted that the US and Israel are engaging in a “game of whack-a-mole” in Iran, with new targets emerging to replace those eliminated. He also stated that while the assassination is significant symbolically and psychologically, it does not necessarily indicate the collapse of the Iranian regime.

Gholamreza Soleimani was born in 1965 and has been sanctioned by several countries for his alleged role in suppressing dissent through the Basij militia. The Basij is a volunteer paramilitary force under Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), tasked with enforcing internal security nationwide.

Source: Al Jazeera