Iran's Supreme National Security Council confirmed the death of its leader Ali Larijani tonight, and the director of the US Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent, resigned over the war against the Islamic Republic. A number of Western publications are commenting today on how this will affect Washington and Tehran, writes BTA.
"Israel eliminates Iran's leadership, but "beheading has its limits", the headline in the "New York Times".
The Israeli army and political representatives of the country yesterday solemnly announced the assassination of Ali Larijani, who is the de facto leader of Iran, declaring this a serious achievement, notes the "New York Times". Larijani's assassination underscores how heavily Israel relies on assassinations to achieve its military goals, destabilize the Iranian government and pave the way for a popular uprising, weakening internal security forces.
Earlier this year, the forces in question killed thousands of unarmed protesters, the American newspaper added.
But Larijani's assassination raises the question of whether Israel is eliminating so many Iranian leaders because it seems like the surest way to achieve its military goals, or simply because it can, the "New York Times" adds. This approach carries the risk of unpredictable backlash, the publication warns.
Israel has extensive experience in eliminating its enemies. In 1972, after 12 Israeli Olympic athletes were brutally murdered in Munich, Israel embarked on a years-long campaign of revenge, aiming to kill all those responsible. In the early 2000s, Israel killed scores of Palestinians it accused of terrorism during the Second Intifada. And in 2024, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike on his headquarters in Beirut. His successor was also killed a few days later.
Some Israeli analysts say there is at least some reason to believe that this tactic could weaken Iran enough for its government to signal a willingness to compromise on its nuclear ambitions and ballistic missiles, the "New York Times" also writes.
Sima Shain, a former Mossad officer and Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, noted that Nasrallah's killing helped the Iranian-backed group "Hezbollah" be weakened enough to agree to a ceasefire with Israel. Eliminating commanders of the Basij paramilitary internal security force could similarly go a long way in making its lower-ranking members "wake up in the morning and not go to work," Shine said.
But killing a senior Iranian leader like Larijani could also be counterproductive, depending on who replaces him.
Larijani had a reputation as a pragmatist, able to work with both moderate and hardline military leaders, Shine said. His death could strengthen the positions of hardline figures like the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
"They are the ones who are actually fighting the war," she stressed. "And strengthening the IRGC means continuing the resistance, continuing the war, and making demands that are unacceptable to the United States and Israel," adds Shine.
Dani Citrinovich, former head of the Iran department in Israeli military intelligence, pointed out that Israel has killed almost all the leaders of "Hamas" in Gaza, as well as Nasrallah and his successor. Nevertheless, "Hamas" and "Hezbollah" continue to function, albeit significantly weakened.
"Beheading has its limits," Citrinovich said, quoted by the "New York Times".
V. "The Wall Street Journal" also addresses the question of how much the elimination of individual figures will change the situation in Iran. "Over the past two and a half years, Israeli campaigns in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon have also focused on assassinating Hamas and Hezbollah leaders"… Although this strategy has significantly weakened the two groups, they still hold on and exert significant influence over local residents," writes "The Wall Street Journal".
According to Iranian officials, the Islamic Republic's leadership has developed plans for a war that would kill many people and has prepared replacements in advance. Although Larijani was a prominent public figure in the regime, the ranks of the security forces, which are key to its stability, are extremely large. The IRGC has a huge command structure and about 190,000 active-duty soldiers, the Wall Street Journal also reported.
"The Washington Post" notes that the Basij internal security force, whose commander Israel said it had killed yesterday, has about 1 million members. In addition, Iran has created anti-Israel militias and political movements throughout the Middle East, the publication added.
"The Washington Post" also wrote that he had read the contents of a diplomatic cable in which Israeli officials told their US counterparts that the Iranian regime "will not budge" and is ready to "fight to the end" despite the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the ongoing airstrikes. The cable also stated that if anti-government protesters again took to the streets of the Islamic Republic, they would be killed.
Narges Badjogli, an Iran expert at Johns Hopkins University, told the Washington Post that efforts to push the Iranian people towards rebellion, regardless of the number of victims, are in line with Israel's decades-long efforts to "disintegrate Iran" and cause "state collapse." "One way to achieve this is to create more opportunities for the state to turn its guns against the population," Badjogli noted. "The goal is not to create a liberal democracy for the Iranian people. The goal is to widen the gap between society and the state," she concluded.
A number of Western publications also commented on the news that the director of the US Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent, has resigned over the war with Iran. Kent is the first senior official in Donald Trump's administration to resign in protest of the war against the Islamic Republic.
"I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran does not pose an immediate threat to our country and it is clear that we started this war because of pressure from Israel and its influential lobby," quoted the "Guardian" newspaper. Kent's letter to Trump, which was posted on the social media platform "Ex". "Early in this administration, senior Israeli officials and influential members of the American media launched a disinformation campaign that completely undermined your "America First" platform and created a pro-militaristic sentiment to encourage war with Iran," Kent added.
He said this approach was used to "mislead (Trump) that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States and that a strike should be taken immediately." "This was a lie and was the same tactic the Israelis used to drag us into the disastrous war in Iraq, which cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again," Kent concluded, quoted by the "Guardian."
"Kent's resignation is the best example yet of how Trump's inner circle is clearly divided," commented the British magazine "Time." Opinion polls show that Americans are deeply divided about Trump's actions in Iran. According to data from the American television "NBC News" 89% of Democratic Party supporters believe that the US should not have launched the strikes, a position shared by 58% of non-partisan Americans.
Only 15% of Republican Party supporters oppose the war in Iran, while 77% support the attacks, the Guardian also writes.
"But if you look a little deeper into the ranks of the Republicans, the reality looks different," the publication commented. About 90% of Republicans from the MAGA movement (abbreviated from the English: "Make America Great Again") support Trump's war. That share drops to 54% among non-MAGA Republicans.
This year, Trump has captured the president of Venezuela and his wife and killed Iran’s supreme leader and his top allies. Cuba appears to be next on Trump’s list. And diplomats in Washington who are involved in the Arctic issue continue to worry that Trump could return to his obsession with taking over Greenland, according to the "Guardian".
And while most of Trump's core remains behind him for now, Kent's withdrawal may be an early sign that a significant portion of MAGA followers are losing faith, wondering what happened to the isolationist they voted for, the British newspaper concludes.