Israel eliminates further senior Iranian regime leaders in overnight airstrikes
Ali Larjani - seen as the de facto regime leader after Ayatollah Khamenei's death - and Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the IRGC's Basij militia, were targeted overnight
Israel has eliminated some of the most senior remaining officials of the Iranian regime in overnight airstrikes, including the secretary of the theocracy’s Supreme National Security Council and the chief of its paramilitary militia.
Ali Larjani, who was widely described as the regime’s wartime leader following the death of Ayatollah Khamenei last month, was targeted by Israel overnight. In a separate strike, Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Basij militia, responsible for enforcing religious laws among the country’s population, was eliminated, along with his Deputy and other high-ranking Basij officials. According to Israeli media reports, Defence Minister Israel Katz told a press briefing this morning that “Larijani and the Basij commander were eliminated overnight and joined the head of the annihilation program, Khamenei, and all the eliminated members of the axis of evil, in the depths of hell.”
On Friday Larjani had joined a mass procession in Tehran to mark Al Quds Day, the Iranian regime-created event to mark what it describes as ‘solidarity with the Palestinian people’. Numerous pro-regime commentators claimed that it showed Larjani’s lack of fear, while those hostile to the regime said it showed Larjani’s confidence that Israel would not target him in an airstrike while he was surrounded by crowds.
Soleimani had led the Basij for the last six years, during which time it was involved in the brutal repression metered out by the Iranian regime in response to protests by its own civilians, including the Women Life Freedom protests of 2022, and the mass protests on January 2026, during which the regime is believed to have murdered tens of thousands.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video message wishing “the brave people of Iran…a happy holiday season”, ahead of Nowruz, the Persian festival which falls this coming Friday. Netanyahu described how the festival “signifies the age old belief of the Iranian people that light will triumph over darkness, that good will triumph over evil.”
On Monday Netanyahu also responded to social media rumours that he himself was dead by releasing a video which showed him in a café in Jerusalem. “I’m dying…for a coffee”, he said in Hebrew.
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