The commander of Iran’s internal Basij militia, Gholamreza Soleimani, has been killed, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed hours after Israel claimed to have killed Soleimani as well as top Iranian security official Ali Larijani.
In a statement shared by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, the IRGC said Soleimani was killed in an “attack by the American-Zionist enemy”.
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Israel earlier said it had killed Soleimani, who led the IRGC’s internal security militia, as well as Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Iran has yet to publicly comment on the Israeli claim that Larijani has been killed.
If confirmed, Larijani would be the highest-ranking Iranian official killed in US-Israeli attacks on Iran since former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated on the first day of the war on February 28.
Iranian state media earlier on Tuesday published a handwritten note by Larijani, though it was not clear whether it was intended as proof the senior official was still alive.
Larijani’s note, shared on his social media pages, commemorated 84 Iranian sailors, whose funeral is expected on Tuesday, killed in a US attack on their naval ship in international waters.
Larijani was last seen publicly on Friday, attending an Al-Quds Day rally in support of Palestinians in Tehran, along with President Masoud Pezeshkian.
He has been a key political figure in the Iranian hierarchy for years, at one time leading the nation’s nuclear negotiations with the West. Previously, he was also the speaker of the Iranian parliament.
‘Whac-A-Mole’
Israeli leaders have welcomed the claimed assassinations of top Iranian officials, with Defence Minister Israel Katz saying on Tuesday that “the leaders of the regime are being killed and their capabilities terminated”.
“Our army is working with strength to continue to hit and terminate the missile capabilities as well as the strategic infrastructure,” he wrote on social media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said the alleged killing of Larijani was part of an effort to give Iranians a way to overthrow their government.
“This morning we eliminated Ali Larijani, the boss of the Revolutionary Guards, which is the gang of gangsters that actually runs Iran,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement, noting that overthrowing clerical authorities “will not happen all at once”.
“But if we persist in this – we will give them a chance to take their fate into their own hands,” the Israeli prime minister said.
Mohamad Elmasry, professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said the US and Israel were playing a “game of Whac-A-Mole” as they target Iranian leaders.
“There’s always another leader … so I don’t think this is going to suggest any kind of collapse of the Iranian regime,” he told Al Jazeera. “Having said that, this is very significant symbolically [and] psychologically.”
Larijani had stressed continued fight
In a message on Monday, Larijani had reasserted that Iran is not going to relent in the fight against the US and Israel.
Larijani appealed for Muslims around the world to stand together, saying with few exceptions that Islamic countries have failed to support Iran against what he called “treacherous aggression”.
“Is the stance of certain Islamic governments not at odds with the Prophet [Muhammad]’s saying: ’Whoever hears a man calling out, ‘O Muslims!’ and fails to answer him is not a Muslim?’” he said.
He went on to justify Iran’s strikes across the region in response to the US-Israeli attacks, which countries in the Gulf have described as blatant aggression against their sovereignty, appearing to warn that there is no middle ground in the ongoing confrontations.
“Which side are you on?” Larijani asked.
At the same time, Larijani also emphasised that Iran is not seeking domination over its neighbours. “The unity of the Islamic nation, if realised with full strength, is capable of guaranteeing security, progress and independence for all its states,” he said.