Israeli media reports claim Pezeshkian requested a meeting with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to resign after an Israeli airstrike killed top security official Ali Larijani. Sources say the president is isolated, furious at the IRGC for sidelining him on military matters and allegedly failing to protect Larijani.
These developments come during a three-week U.S.-Israeli air campaign that has eliminated key Iranian figures, including the original Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, fueling speculation of a leadership vacuum despite no official confirmation of Pezeshkian’s departure.
Channel 14’s @DBalazada reports Pezeshkian is considering resignation. He told his inner circle:
“They [IRGC] don’t let me do anything, have cut me out of military and strategic decisions, and don’t even allow me to talk to the Supreme Leader. I feel useless.”
Larijani was secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s peak security body, making him an important player. He was widely seen as Iran’s power behind the throne following Khamenei’s death and the invisibility of the supreme leader’s successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, who reportedly was badly injured in the same strike that killed his father.
On Wednesday, Iran confirmed its Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib had been assassinated, with the Israeli Defence Force saying he had overseen a department guilty of “repression and terrorist activities”.
The regime continues to launch strikes against Israel and the Gulf States, as well as block the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. A hoped-for uprising among oppressed Iranians has failed to materialise.
“The regime in Iran appears to be intact but largely degraded by Operation Epic Fury,” US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a Senate hearing on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT).
“Even so, Iran and its proxies remain capable of and continue to attack US and allied interests in the Middle East. If a hostile regime survives, it will seek to begin a years-long effort to rebuild its missiles and UAV [drone] forces.”
One of the hallmarks of the Iranian regime has been succession planning. Under the former supreme leader Khamenei, those in senior ranks were expected to have designated successors ready to step in immediately. Such an approach is the result of past Israeli assassinations of senior regime figures.
Another of the Iranian responses includes the arrest of hundreds of people, accusing them of being anti-regime traitors or spies for Israel and the US.
With so much bloodshed at once, Iran’s claim that the assassination campaign is having no impact stretches credibility. At the very least, it would be corroding morale and instilling fear of who’s next.
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