Thousands of Iranians gathered to attend the funeral procession for Iranian security chief Ali Larijani and his son in Tehran on Wednesday.
The top official was assassinated in Israeli airstrikes on Monday night, which also killed his son, Morteza, and body guards in a hideout apartment on the outskirts of the capital.
Larijani, the head of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was widely understood as the de facto leader in Iran, central to the day-to-day running of the regime.
He was responsible for architecting the slaughter of some 30,000 anti-government protestors earlier this year as the regime brutally clamped down on dissent.
Tehran lashed out following the assassination of the ‘stand-in’ leader with attacks on its Gulf neighbors and Israel on Wednesday, using some of its latest missiles to evade air defenses and killing two near Tel Aviv as the war in the Middle East showed no signs of slowing.
The defiant regime said the killing would not hinder its wartime operations and claimed it had rapidly appointed replacements across its political and military hierarchy.
As well as eliminating Larijani – the highest profile figure killed since Ali Khamenei on the first day of war – Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said a separate strike killed the Basij paramilitary force commander, Gholamreza Soleimani.
‘Larijani and the Basij commander were eliminated overnight and joined the head of the annihilation programme, Khamenei, and all the eliminated members of the axis of evil, in the depths of hell,’ Katz announced on Tuesday.
Thousands of Iranians gathered to attend the funeral procession for Iranian security chief Ali Larijani and his son in Tehran on Wednesday
The top official was assassinated in Israeli airstrikes on Monday night, which also killed his son and body guards in a hideout apartment on the outskirts of the capital
He was responsible for architecting the slaughter of some 30,000 anti-government protestors earlier this year as the regime brutally clamped down on dissent
‘The regime’s leaders are being killed and their capabilities are being neutralised,’ he said in a televised statement.
‘Our military is making every effort to continue to strike and neutralise Iran’s missile capabilities, as well as its strategic infrastructure,’ he added.
Commentators are speculating whether the death of Larijani represents a more significant blow to the regime than the assassination of the Ayatollah on February 28.
Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is yet to make a public appearance since his appointment, and rumours are spreading that the 56-year-old is severely injured or may even be dead.
In contrast to the new leader’s invisibility, Larijani was a bold and confident figure, who moved deftly between Iran’s religious establishment and matters of foreign diplomacy.
Only last week did he defiantly appear on Iranian state television, warning Donald Trump to ‘take care not to be eliminated’ before taunting the US President for his ‘grave miscalculation’.
Marching through the streets of Tehran, in an attempted display of bravado, the military overlord dismissed the Israeli-US attacks on the capital as being ‘out of desperation’.
‘These attacks are out of fear, out of desperation. One who is strong wouldn’t bomb demonstrations at all. It’s clear that it has failed,’ Larijani declared at the Quds Day march.
The 67-year-old was at the time one of the most powerful figures in the Iranian establishment – masterminding the country’s defence while distilling fear among the civilian population – and it is still unclear who, if anyone, has the ability to replace him.
Commentators are speculating whether the death of Larijani represents a more significant blow to the regime than the assassination of the Ayatollah on February 28
Large crowds gather at Enghelab Square in Iran’s capital Tehran during the ceremony
Only last week did Larijani defiantly appear on Iranian state television, warning Donald Trump to ‘take care not to be eliminated’
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