Israel claims targeted strikes killed Ali Larijani, Gholamreza Soleimani, as Iran remains silent
text_fields
Israel has claimed two high-profile assassinations, asserting that Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij militia, were killed in targeted strikes, although Iran has neither confirmed nor officially responded to the allegations.
The claims, articulated by Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz, have been met with ambiguity, as Iranian state media released a handwritten note attributed to Larijani, the provenance and intent of which remain uncertain, thereby fuelling speculation over whether it constitutes proof of life or a calculated act of strategic obfuscation, according to Al Jazeera.
The note, disseminated through Larijani’s social media channels, commemorates Iranian sailors reportedly killed in what Tehran describes as a United States attack on a vessel in international waters, with funerary proceedings expected on Tuesday, a development that further entangles the narrative within the widening theatre of confrontation.
If substantiated, Larijani’s death would mark the most consequential assassination since the reported killing of Ali Khamenei during the opening salvo of United States-Israeli strikes on February 28, an episode that allegedly decapitated key nodes of Iran’s leadership structure.
Whether this document serves as a legitimate "proof of life" or a desperate piece of posthumous propaganda remains a subject of intense intelligence scrutiny, particularly as Larijani was last observed in the public eye during Friday’s al-Quds rally.
As the funeral for the aforementioned sailors looms this Tuesday, the atmosphere in Tehran oscillates between stoic mourning and the palpable tension of a leadership facing an unprecedented existential threat.