Israel said on Tuesday it had killed Iran’s powerful national security chief, Ali Larijani, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling him the leader of “the gang of gangsters” that runs the Islamic Republic.
If confirmed, Larijani’s death would be a huge blow to Iran’s ruling system more than two weeks into the war engulfing the Middle East, which has upended global markets and had consequences far beyond the region’s confines.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Larijani was “eliminated last night”, although this has not been confirmed by Iran.
“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.
He said the overthrow of Iran’s authorities by the people “will not happen all at once, it will not happen easily. But if we persist in this – we will give them a chance to take their fate into their own hands.”
It comes less…
