Iran’s most powerful leaders are being picked off one by one by Israeli and American military strikes. The latest scalp claimed by Israel is Ali Larjani, Iran’s security chief, and widely believed to be the most powerful figure in the present Iranian leadership. The reported killing comes just days after Larjani went on a public walkabout in Tehran, all defiance and bombast as he greeted members of the public during the Quds Day rally last Friday in the capital. Larjani also spoke to state media during the march, claiming that the Americans and Israelis were “running out of steam”. Well, not quite in his case, it turns out.

There is no disguising the significance and symbolism of this latest decapitation. It will leave what remains of the Iranian leadership ever more fearful of their safety. The Israeli military also made public that it has killed the Basij paramilitary force commander, Gholamreza Soleiman, another powerful hardline figure.

Few will mourn the demise of Larjani and his ilk. Yet the very success of this campaign of targeted assassinations poses deeper........

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