The IDF on Tuesday confirmed it had assassinated the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Basij paramilitary militia, Gholamreza Soleimani, and his deputy, Karishi. The two were killed in a makeshift tent area, which had been set up to make it harder to follow them as opposed to in a known headquarters.
The IDF also confirmed it attempted to assassinate top Iranian official Ali Larijani, which is the single most momentous targeted killing since the beginning of the war on February 28, three separate sources have confirmed to The Jerusalem Post.
A top Israeli source and two senior defense sources all confirmed the attempt, but were less clear on whether it succeeded.
At the same time, even the leak of the attempt itself suggests a significant possibility that Larijani has been killed or at least wounded.
Some have viewed Larijani as the man running the Iranian regime since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated by the IDF along with Iran's military chief, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief, Iran's Defense Minister, and around 40 other top officials on February 28.
Larijani has been the Islamic regime's most public voice, responding directly to threats and comments by US President Donald Trump and others.
Whereas Mojtaba Khamenei, the Ayatollah's son, has been technically appointed the next supreme leader, IDF and American intelligence have said he is badly wounded, and given a total lack of public appearances, doubts have been expressed about whether he is actually running the country.
Larijani targeted in Israel’s latest military operation
Larijani, on March 1, announced that he would be heading an interim committee for running the country, given Khamenei's death. However, just because Larijani issued such a statement does not mean that he is for sure calling the shots.
The Iranian leader has had ups and downs with Khamenei, having been an IRGC commander, speaker of parliament, and a national security council chief, but then was disqualified from running for Iranian president to pave the way for Ebrahim Raisi's election in 2021, and was out of favor for a time.
However, in recent months, Larijani made a comeback as one of the older and still living top advisers to Khamenei, following so many top officials being killed in June 2025, and became Khamenei's number two, running the country's day-to-day security affairs and nuclear negotiations with the US.
If Larijani has been the number one official in Iran these last two weeks, and even if he is only one of the top few, killing or wounding him could significantly impact the overall strategic picture.
Besides Mojtaba Khamenei and Larijani, another figure who could be running much of the regime behind the scenes is Ahmad Vahidi, who was the IRGC deputy chief on the eve of the war.
Vahidi was announced on March 1 by the IRGC as its new leader.
Given the IRGC's centrality to running the regime's security forces, Vahidi being its new leader could position him as the current reigning authority for the regime.
This would be ironic because Vahidi has not been a known name or in the Iranian security forces' top ten until very recently.
He only became the IRGC deputy chief around two months ago, in December 2025.
Most of Iran's top leadership was killed in June 2025, and most of its current top leaders were also in some sense newer to their posts.
Vahidi was even below them, having been the Interior Minister from 2021 to 2024.
However, he had also been defense minister from 2009-2013, and served in other relatively high posts and has been an IRGC commander since the late 1980s.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has also made public statements relating to the Islamic regime's goals and priorities, but is viewed as too weak in his influence with the IRGC to be in overall control at this moment.
