This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The End of the American Dream.
We just witnessed a very pivotal moment in our war with Iran. When Ayatollah Khamenei was still alive, Ali Larijani was essentially running the country. Once Ayatollah Khamenei died and was replaced by his son, Ali Larijani was still essentially running the country. The mass slaughter of protesters during the month of January had his fingerprints all over it, and many believe that he was the primary reason why Iran took such a hard line in negotiations with the United States during the month of February, just before the war erupted. A lot of people are absolutely thrilled that he is gone, but who is going to run Iran now? Larijani was a murderer and a radical, but he was at least somewhat rational. Will he be replaced by someone who is a complete lunatic?
We shall see what happens.
If Larijani is replaced by a moderate, this could be a very good thing.
But if he is replaced by a total nut, there is no telling what Iran might do next.
On Tuesday, the Israelis announced that they had “eliminated” Larijani…
Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani was killed in overnight strikes, Israel said Tuesday, marking a significant moment for the Islamic Republic in the conflict.
Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Larijani was “eliminated.” There was no immediate confirmation out of Iran on his apparent killing.
This is a much bigger deal than most people realize.
When they announced his death, the IDF correctly noted that Larijani was “the de facto leader of the Iranian terror regime”…
The military said that Larijani “served as the de facto leader of the Iranian terror regime,” after the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28.
“For years, Larijani was considered one of the most senior and veteran figures in the leadership of the Iranian terror regime,” the IDF said, noting his close relationship with Khamenei.
After the supreme leader’s death, Larijani “established his position as the de facto leader of the Iranian terror regime and led the fighting against the State of Israel and countries in the region,” the IDF added, noting that “as part of his role, Larijani led the political-security coordination of the Iranian terror regime and was involved in directing its international activity.”
Just two months ago, Larijani oversaw the largest slaughter of protesters in Iranian history.
He probably never imagined that he would soon be gone himself.
In addition to eliminating Larijani, the IDF also killed Larijani’s son and a number of other top officials at the same time…
The Israeli airstrike that killed Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani also killed his deputy at the Supreme National Security Council Ali Bateni as well as Larijani’s son, who served as his special assistant, informed sources told Iran International.
Qassem Qoreishi, deputy head of the Basij paramilitary organization, was also killed in the Israeli strike on the Basij meeting, the sources said.
The meeting was held to discuss how to confront potential protests during the Persian festival of Chaharshanbeh Suri (Fireworks Wednesday), which is now underway in Iran.
Larijani’s death has sent shockwaves all over Iran.
In fact, there are reports that some Iranians were actually cheering from their balconies when they learned that he was gone.
Ironically, just a week ago Larijani was threatening President Trump’s life…
Larijani had been a defiant voice since the war began and warned only a week ago, in a message aimed at President Trump, that the Iranian people “do not fear your empty threats; even those greater than you have failed to erase them… so beware lest you be the ones who disappear.”
So many top Iranian officials that have dared to threaten Trump’s life over the years are now dead.
According to Iran International, information that was received from residents of Tehran allowed the IDF to quickly determine Larijani’s location…
“The assassination of Larijani was made possible thanks to valuable intelligence that Israeli intelligence services received from residents of Tehran over the past 24 hours,” an Israeli official told Iran International.
“In recent days, Larijani had behaved arrogantly, appearing frequently in public (including at Quds Day rallies), engaging with both local and international media, and thereby exposing himself to public view, which ultimately led to his identification,” the official said.
Considering the tremendous slaughter that we witnessed in January, nobody can deny that Larijani was truly evil.
But he was also one of the few somewhat rational leaders in Iran that western leaders felt comfortable communicating with…
He was one of the few figures who could shape the messaging, signal intentions and maintain lines of communication externally, even as fighting continued, while remaining fully trusted by the system. While he understood escalation, he also understood where it needed to stop. That made him one of the few figures in Tehran capable of managing both sides of a crisis at once, and without him, that capability shrinks.
Now that Larijani is gone, will the next guy even be willing to communicate with the United States?
And will the next guy be so filled with a desire for revenge that he will just decide to escalate the war all the way to the highest level?
There is so much that we don’t know at this stage.
Mojtaba Khamenei is supposed to be operating as Iran’s new supreme leader, but a British news source is reporting that he is in such bad shape that he is being kept alive by a ventilator…
A Sun source with links to the hospital treating 56-year-old Khamenei revealed last week that he was in a coma, had lost at least one leg and suffered possible liver and stomach wounds.
And the same source has today revealed that the fanatical Islamist firebrand’s condition has worsened and he is now being kept alive by machines.
The source said: “His brain is in a very low state of consciousness and his heart and lungs are only functioning because they are connected to a life support machine.
“He would be dead without the ventilator.”
If Mojtaba Khamenei is incapable of making any decisions and Larijani is gone, who is going to be in charge?
At this point, top Iranian leaders are dropping like flies.
On Tuesday, the IDF also took out the head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force…
The Israeli military also announced on Tuesday the killing of the Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s feared Basij paramilitary force.
“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,” the IDF said in a statement, accusing the Basij, under Soleimani’s command, of leading “the main repression operations, employing severe violence, widespread arrests, and the use of force against civilian demonstrators” to quash anti-government protests that swept across Iran in January.
The IDF called Soleimani’s assassination “an additional significant blow to the regime’s security command-and-control structures” and it vowed to “continue to operate with determination against commanders of the Iranian terror regime.”
The reason why Israel is eliminating so many Iranian leaders is because they want to create conditions that are ideal for regime change.
According to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, the goal is to give the Iranian people the best chance possible to overthrow the tyrants that have been oppressing them for decades…
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that Israel was working to weaken Iran’s leadership to create conditions for change, saying Tehran had already been significantly weakened.
“We don’t want to be in a new war every year,” Saar told a press conference in Jerusalem. “In order to do that, we need to do what we do today.”
He said Israel’s actions were aimed at enabling Iranians to shape their own future. “It is eventually in the hands of the Iranian people… but this brutal, repressive regime must be weakened to an extent it will be possible,” he said.
Without a doubt, Tuesday was a really bad day for the Iranian regime.
But despite everything that has happened, the Iranians are defiantly pledging to fight for as long as it takes…
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is calling on citizens to flood the streets for mass funerals of sailors killed when the IRIS Dena was sunk off the coast of Sri Lanka. Enemies “should know that in the shadow of the name of each of these high-ranking martyrs, thousands of other brave men will rise,” he said.
Most importantly, he announced that Islamic Republic leadership is rejecting any talk of de-escalation. Iran will exact a steep cost against its aggressors, he vowed. It is not “the right time for peace until the United States and Israel are brought to their knees, accept defeat, and pay compensation,” a senior official was quoted in Al Jazeera as saying, describing the position as “very tough and serious.”
Iran’s messaging here has been consistent. On Monday when President Trump claimed Tehran was “talking” – and later there were reports of text messages between Iran’s FM Araghchi and White House envoy Steve Witkoff, Iran’s government was quick to call this fake news.
“We don’t ask for ceasefire, but this war must end, in a way that our enemies never again think about repeating such attacks,” Araghchi has said.
There will be no easy victory for the United States and Israel.
In fact, a White House official just admitted to Politico that the Iranians “hold the cards now”…
‘We clearly just kicked [Iran’s] a** in the field, but, to a large extent, they hold the cards now,’ a source close to the White House told Politico. ‘They decide how long we’re involved, and they decide if we put boots on the ground. And it doesn’t seem to me that there’s a way around that, if we want to save face.’
The reason why the Iranians hold the cards is because they have been able to paralyze traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Within the past 24 hours, yet another tanker was hit…
A fresh wave of attacks on the United Arab Emirates’ energy infrastructure has ramped up concerns over prolonged supply disruptions amid the Iran war.
It comes after the world’s largest ultra-sour gas development was struck by a drone, a fire broke out in the UAE’s Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, and another tanker was hit near the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
President Trump can’t walk away as long as the Iranians are stopping commercial traffic from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
But if he wants to get the Strait of Hormuz back open again, it is probably going to require U.S. boots on the ground.
When he was asked about U.S. boots on the ground on Tuesday, Trump told the press that he is “not afraid” of that option…
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ‘not afraid’ to deploy US ground troops within Iran, further emphasizing the lengths he is willing to go in his Middle East war.
Speaking from the Oval Office alongside Ireland’s Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, the President fielded many questions about the Iran war.
‘Are you afraid that if you put boots on the ground in Iran, it could be another Vietnam?’ one reporter asked.
‘No,’ Trump shot back, adding, ‘I’m not afraid of anything.’
Putting U.S. boots on the ground would be a major escalation.
And it would probably extend the duration of this war by quite a bit.
But President Trump is going to feel so much pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and so he might go ahead and do it anyway.
Meanwhile, Israeli boots are already on the ground in southern Lebanon…
Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon opens a new front in a widening Middle East war, expanding its campaign against Iran by moving against one of its most powerful regional allies, Hezbollah, and stretching its military across an unprecedented number of conflict zones.
Israel said on Monday that it launched a ground operation in a southern swath of Lebanon and was prepared for a prolonged campaign.
It may take many months for Israel to defeat Hezbollah once and for all.
But there was no way that this was going to be a quick war.
Anyone who thought that was simply not being realistic.
Everything that has happened in the Middle East since 1979 has been building up to this moment.
Now it is here, and the Middle East will never be the same again.
Michael’s new book, entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next,” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book, entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next,” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com, including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books, you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream, and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.
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