FM Araghchi: Killing of Larijani will not shake Iran’s leadership

The killing of Ali Larijani, the influential secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, will not deal a fatal blow to the country’s leadership, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, aired after Tehran confirmed Larijani’s death on March 18, Araghchi stressed that the United States and Israel have yet to grasp that Iran’s government does not hinge on a single individual.

“I do not know why the Americans and the Israelis still have not understood this point: The Islamic Republic of Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic, and social institutions. The presence or absence of a single individual does not affect this structure,” he said.

He noted that even after the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during the US-Israel strikes on February 28, the system continued to function and immediately appointed a replacement. “If anyone else is martyred, it will be the same. If the foreign minister were ever to be martyred, there would ultimately be someone else to take the position,” Araghchi added.

The 67-year-old Larijani, who was a trusted confidant of Ali Khamenei and his son Mojtaba Khamenei, was killed on the night of March 16. Iranian media also confirmed the death of Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij forces of the IRGC, a key figure in maintaining internal security.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said Israel had long carried out assassinations of its political opponents, a practice he described as outside the norms of warfare.

“In wars, you don’t start by killing political leaders, including elected leaders. That programme of assassination is gangster, it’s terrorism, it’s not the norm of war,” he said.

Bishara added that, while “the system in Iran is strong and the killing of one leader isn’t going to lead to the implosion of the system,” such targeted killings can still have an impact, as “quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes.”

Araghchi further stated that Iran is not a party to the regional conflict and placed responsibility on the United States. “I will repeat: This war is not our war. We did not start it. The United States started it and is responsible for all the consequences of this war – human and financial – whether for Iran, for the region, or for the entire world. The United States must be held accountable,” he concluded.

By Jeyhun Aghazada