Ali Larijani, considered a key power broker of the Iranian regime, sent a warning to the United States and Israel. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei was reported to have died in an airstrike on Feb. 28 local time.
Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), posted on X (formerly Twitter) that "we will make the Zionist (Israel) criminals and shameless Americans regret their actions."
Secretary Larijani emphasized that "Iran's brave soldiers and great people will teach the oppressive international devils an unforgettable lesson."
The post appears to have been published after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video address, hinted at the death by saying there were "various signs that Khamenei is no longer."
According to a report by the U.S. daily the New York Times (NYT) on the 22nd, Secretary Larijani was known as the top choice named by Khamenei to manage the theocracy in the event of his incapacitation. Next in line, it said, is parliamentary (Majlis) speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Secretary Larijani was once regarded in the West as a "pragmatic conservative." However, when anti-government protests intensified in Iran in Jan., he was reported to have pushed a bloody crackdown using the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia, and he is now seen as having taken the lead in hard-line measures as Iran's theocratic system faces a period of threat.