From Israel’s perspective, eliminating senior Iranian figures such as Ali Larijani is not about symbolism. It is about dismantling the Islamic Republic’s nervous system.

When a figure like Larijani falls, Israel is not merely removing a senior official. It is removing a node that linked national security, the political apparatus, regime continuity, and strategic coordination. That matters even more against a state that reached a drone production capacity of around 10,000 per month, accumulated 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, and entered this war with a ballistic missile arsenal estimated in the range of roughly 2,500 to 6,000 missiles. Larijani’s elimination is very clear: Israel is going after the men who make the system work.

That is why Israel is striking the brain.

Jerusalem grasped what too many in the West spent years denying: Iran is not merely a nuclear program. It is an integrated architecture of missiles, drones, intelligence, oil, proxy warfare, and domestic repression. Decapitation matters because it forces improvisation, stretches the chain of command, deepens internal paranoia, and degrades coordination among the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the political class, and coercive arms such as the Basij. In military terms, that means slower decision-making. In a war built on missiles and drones, slower decision-making means lower survivability.

But Israel’s objective goes beyond disruption. It is trying to break the regime’s strategic viability.

That means more than killing commanders. It means accelerating regional convergence against Iran. The more aggressive and erratic Tehran becomes, the easier it is to push Sunni Arab states toward deeper cooperation........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)