Iranian defence chief who issued sinister warning to Trump is killed in airstrike
Iranian Defence Chief Killed in Airstrike After Warning to Trump
Last week, an Iranian official who delivered a stark message to Donald Trump and vowed to ‘remove’ the United States from the region was killed in a targeted airstrike.
Ali Larijani, the Supreme National Security Council Secretary, was struck down by an Israeli attack, as confirmed by Iran’s Defence Ministry. The IDF added that a separate operation also eliminated the leader of the Basji paramilitary group.
“The nation of Iran is not afraid of your empty threats. Even those bigger than you could not eliminate the Iranian nation. Watch yourselves, or you might be eliminated!”
Larijani was involved in the interim leadership council, which determined the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His role included managing Iran’s military strategy during critical political transitions.
The Basji force, an all-volunteer unit under the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, was also targeted in the strike. This group has historically been deployed to quell public unrest within the Islamic Republic.
While Larijani’s death was confirmed, reports suggest General Gholam Reza Soleimani was killed in an earlier Monday attack. However, Iran delayed acknowledging his demise, leaving uncertainty about the exact casualties.
Israeli forces described the Basji as a key component of the Iranian ‘terror regime’s’ military infrastructure. They highlighted the group’s brutal tactics during recent protests, including violent crackdowns and mass detentions.
The U.S. Treasury records Soleimani’s birth year as 1965, and he has faced sanctions from the U.S., European Union, and other nations for his role in suppressing dissent through Basji operations.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the eldest son of the late Ayatollah, was named as Soleimani’s successor. But after surviving a near-fatal airstrike, he was reportedly evacuated to Russia for urgent leg surgery.
Despite U.S. claims of his death, Khamenei later issued a fiery statement calling for retaliation against the U.S. and its allies. Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida claimed he was secretly removed from a bunker during a strike that killed his family, then flown to Moscow for a top-secret procedure.
The covert extraction involved a Russian military jet, with Khamenei allegedly receiving treatment in one of Vladimir Putin’s presidential residences. Medical reports vary, citing injuries ranging from a broken foot to severe leg damage or even a coma.
The information, according to Al-Jarida, originated from a confidential source near the new Iranian Supreme Leader. Iran asserted that Khamenei remains alive, contradicting Trump’s earlier assertion that the newly chosen leader was ‘not’.
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