The IDF carried out dramatic assassinations in Iran overnight Monday, eliminating top Iranian official Ali Larijani, considered the effective leader of the Islamic Republic following the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and other top Iranian officials.

Larijani’s death was confirmed on Tuesday morning by Defense Minister Yisrael Katz.

The IDF also confirmed it had eliminated the chief of the IRGC’s brutal Basij paramilitary forces, Gholam Reza Soleimani, his deputy Qasim Qureshi, and the majority of the Basij leadership, in a separate strike on a “combat tent,” a makeshift command headquarters they were using to avoid being targeted in their regular headquarters. Basij forces oversee the regime’s cruel suppression of Iranian civilians, including the brutal murders of Iranian protesters this past January.

Even before the war, Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was considered the most influential and powerful figure in the Iranian regime, effectively running the Islamic Republic.

Following Israel’s confirmation that Ali Larijani and the Basij commander were killed, Defense Minister Israel Katz said they have “joined Khamenei and other members of the axis of evil in the depths of hell,” adding that he and Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the IDF to continue pursuing the leadership of Iran’s terror regime.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said, “Larijani was under U.S. sanctions with a $10 million prize on his head. We did it for free.”

The IDF stated: “Throughout the years, Larijani was considered one of the most veteran and senior figures within the Iranian regime leadership, and was a close associate of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. During the most recent wave of protests against the Iranian terror regime, Larijani personally oversaw the massacre that was carried out against Iranian protestors.”

Additionally, Israel struck an underground compound in the city of Qom in recent days, where senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials were present, likely eliminating deputy leader Akram al-Ajouri and the chief of the terror group’s military wing, Mohammed al-Hindi. Their deaths have not yet been confirmed, but IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said on Tuesday morning that the IDF has achieved major “counterterrorism achievements” overnight that could influence the broader war against Iran and its proxies.

Zamir said that senior Palestinian terror figures were killed in safe houses in Tehran, including leaders involved in terror activity in Gaza and the Shomron.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)