Iran vows revenge for security chief Larijani’s killing, hits Tel Aviv with cluster bombs

Summary

• Iran retaliated for the assassination of security chief Ali Larijani with missile strikes on Tel Aviv, killing two, and Gulf nations intercepted rockets aimed at US bases.
• Iran's new supreme leader, Mr Mojtaba Khamenei, rejected ceasefire proposals from the US, demanding defeat and compensation before peace talks, escalating tensions.
• The Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, with the US deploying heavy bombs to counter missile threats, while allies resist military involvement, fearing a global crisis.

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TEL AVIV – Iran targeted Tel Aviv with missiles carrying cluster warheads, killing two people, in what it said was retaliation for Israel’s assassination of Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani.

Gulf nations, meanwhile, intercepted rockets and drones headed for targets that include US bases in the region.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the United States and Israel did not understand that the Islamic Republic was a robust political system and did not depend on any single individual.

The death of senior officials would not disrupt governance, and the state would continue to function, Mr Araqchi said in an interview with the Al Jazeera news network.

Iran was set to hold funerals on March 18 for Mr Larijani and another powerful figure killed by Israel, Mr Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij paramilitary force, according to the Fars and Tasnim news agencies.

The Iranian government confirmed the killing of Mr Larijani, the most senior figure targeted since the US-Israeli war’s first day, when an Israeli air strike killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which Mr Larijani led as secretary, said Mr Larijani’s son and his deputy, Mr Alireza Bayat, were also killed in the air strike late on March 16.

“Iran’s response to the assassination of the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council will be decisive and regrettable,” Iranian army chief Amir Hatami said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned that Mr Larijani’s death would spur further attacks.

The “pure blood of this great martyr… will be a source of honour, power and national awakening against the front of global arrogance”, it said in a statement.

Mr Larijani, 68, had walked openly with crowds at a pro-government rally last week in Tehran.

“He has effectively been the figure in charge of the regime’s survival, its regional policy and its defence strategy,” Mr David Khalfa, co-founder of the Atlantic Middle East Forum, said.

“It’s the supreme leader who gives the order, but he is the one who carries it out. He is the right-hand man,” said Mr Khalfa.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again called for the end of the Islamic republic, although he and US President Donald Trump have stopped short of saying that is their goal.

The overthrow of Iran’s authorities by the people “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”, Mr Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

No peace

The targeted killings took place as the US-Israeli war on Iran shows no signs of de-escalation.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Mr Mojtaba Khamenei, has rejected proposals conveyed to Iran’s Foreign Ministry for “reducing tensions or ceasefire with the United States”, according to a senior Iranian official who asked not to be identified.

Mr Khamenei, attending his first foreign-policy meeting since his appointment, said it was not “the right time for peace until the United States and Israel are brought to their knees, accept defeat and pay compensation”, according to the official.

The official did not clarify whether Mr Khamenei, who has not yet appeared in photos or on TV since being named last week to replace his slain father, attended the meeting in person or remotely.

Mr Araqchi told Al Jazeera that Iranian strikes were not limited to US bases because the US deployed its forces outside military bases and into urban areas.

“Wherever there were American forces gathering, wherever there were facilities belonging to them, they were targeted. It is possible some of these places were near urban areas,” he said.

The Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for a fifth of the global oil trade, remains largely closed, as Iran threatens to attack tankers linked to the US and Israel.

With oil still hovering around US$100 a barrel, Mr Araqchi, Iran’s foreign minister, warned on March 18 that the global repercussions of the war “has only just begun and will hit all”.

As part of an effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s crude transits, the US military said it brought out some of the heaviest bombs in its arsenal to penetrate adjacent missile sites.

The US dropped several 2,250kg bombs – estimated to cost US$288,000 (S$357,000) each – on “hardened Iranian missile sites” near the coast that posed a threat to international shipping, the US Central Command said.

Mr Trump has repeatedly castigated allied countries in recent days for their cool response to his requests for military help to restore the passage of oil tankers through the strait.

Most US allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have said they do not want to get involved in the conflict, Mr Trump said on March 17, describing their position as “a very foolish mistake”.

“Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance – WE NEVER DID!” Mr Trump wrote on social media, also singling out Japan, Australia and South Korea.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in an interview that nobody was ready to risk the lives of their people in protecting the strait.

“We have to find diplomatic ways to keep this open, so that we don’t have a food crisis, fertiliser crisis, energy crisis as well,” Mr Kallas said.

In rare dissent within Mr Trump’s ranks, Mr Joseph Kent, the director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation with an open letter.

Mr Kent wrote that Iran posed no “imminent threat” to the US, which he said started the war “due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby”.

Mr Trump denounced the criticism in personal terms, calling Mr Kent “very weak on security”. REUTERS, AFP