Larijani’s Death Removes Key Pillar of Regime

Iran confirmed on Tuesday that Israel had assassinated overnight Ali Larijani, one of the most important Iranian officials still alive.

Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, was the regime’s key figure after the assassination of supreme leader Ali Khamenei by Israel on February 28. He was Khamenei’s hand-picked deputy, and many viewed him as the de facto leader of the Islamic Republic following Khamenei’s death.

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Larijani’s death, said Michael Makovsky, president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, “has to hearten the Iranian people, and encourage them more at some point to rise up again against the regime.”

Netanyahu is looking to take advantage of the strike immediately. In an English-language message to the Iranian people on Tuesday night, he urged them to “celebrate the Festival of Fire.”