Ali Larijani was killed in an Israeli attack; the Israeli army called for evacuations in central Beirut while targeting the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Iran announced it would avenge Larijani’s death.
The assassination of Khamenei has revealed a truth: Israel has failed to find a way to protect its Iranian leaders. Despite Larijani being known as a philosopher with liberal views and a non-war advocate, his targeting and killing shows that Israel is trying to force Iran’s surrender by killing its leaders, but how successful this will be remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu also issued a statement saying they still have hope in the Iranian people and that Larijani’s death gives them a new chance. The Iranian people, however, have already made their stance clear. It’s unclear how Iranians, constantly under bombardment, will side with Israel and the USA.
Iran has no chance of giving up. There is also no chance of the war ending quickly. Israel believes it can defeat Iran by assassinating its leaders, but it doesn’t need to do much to find more than one leader in Iran. Dozens of people could be found in Iran to replace Larijani.