Israel said Tuesday it had killed Iran’s powerful national security chief, Ali Larijani, in what would be a huge blow to the Islamic republic as fresh strikes rocked the Middle East from Tehran to Baghdad.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Larijani was “eliminated last night”, although this has not been confirmed by Iran.
Earlier Tuesday, Israel’s military said Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij paramilitary force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, was killed Monday in a strike on Tehran.
Reports of their deaths come less than three weeks after US-Israeli strikes on February 28 killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, triggering a war that has engulfed the region.
He was replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, whose whereabouts and health is the subject of much speculation. US President Donald Trump said Monday that “we don’t know… if he’s dead or not”.
Hundreds of people have been killed and millions have been displaced because of the war, notably in Lebanon and Iran.
The conflict has also sent oil prices soaring, after Iran’s attacks on vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that is key to the transit of crude and liquefied natural gas.
Oil prices rose more than five percent early Tuesday after several countries pushed back on Trump’s demand they help protect shipping.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said on Tuesday it had killed the head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force in a strike, while Israeli media reported Tehran’s national security chief was also targeted for assassination.
“In a precise strike in Tehran: The IDF eliminated the Commander of the Basij Unit,” The Israeli military said.
“Yesterday (Monday), the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, targeted and eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, who operated as commander of the Basij unit for the past six years,” it said.
The Basij, a volunteer force under Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, “led the main repression operations” by the authorities during recent mass protests in Iran, the Israeli army said.
Iran was rocked by unprecedented protests against the clerical establishment that peaked in January.
They were met with a crackdown in which, according to rights groups, thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands arrested.
