Jerusalem, 17 March, 2026 (TPS-IL) — In his first public comments since Israel announced the assassination of Ali Larijani, Iran’s de facto leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the overnight strike was intended to weaken Tehran’s regime.
“We are undermining this regime in the hope of giving the Iranian people a chance to remove it. It will not happen all at once, it will not happen easily. But if we persist in this — we will give them a chance to take their fate into their own hands,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
“This morning we eliminated Ali Larijani. Ali Larijani is the boss of the Revolutionary Guards, which is the gang of gangsters that actually runs Iran. We also eliminated the commander of the Basij – these are the gangsters’ assistants, who spread terror on the streets of Tehran and other cities in Iran against the population. We are also operating there; we are operating from the air with Air Force planes and drones,” Netanyahu added.
“I spoke at length with President Trump yesterday on this issue. There is cooperation between our Air Force and Navy, between me and President Trump and his people. We will help with both indirect attacks, which create tremendous pressure on the Iranian regime, and also with direct actions. There are many more surprises. We will make war with tricks. We will not reveal all the tricks here, but I told you: there are many,” Netanyahu said.
Larijani was widely regarded as a key power broker in Tehran, described as Iran’s “de facto leader.” He recently delayed the formal declaration of Mojtaba Khamenei as the next Supreme Leader, a move that highlighted his influence within Iran’s political establishment. He emerged from hiding last Friday during Iran’s Jerusalem Day marches in Tehran, where he spoke alongside President Masoud Pazakhian and other senior officials.
Also killed in the same wave of overnight strikes was Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force. The Basij militia and other internal security forces play a key role in enforcing the regime’s control inside the country.