Iran to hold funeral for slain security chief as it vows vengeance

Iran held funerals in Tehran on Wednesday for two of its most powerful figures slain by Israeli airstrikes, even as it fired a fresh wave of missiles at Israel and warned that the full weight of its retaliation had only begun, plunging the three-week-old Middle East war into a new and more dangerous phase.

Funerals were held for Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij paramilitary force, both of whom were confirmed killed by Israel on Tuesday. Larijani, 68, is the most prominent figure of the Islamic Republic killed since Israel and the United States launched their attacks on Iran on February 28, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and igniting the war across the Middle East.

Analysts described Larijani as the man who had effectively been in charge of the regime’s survival, its regional policy, and its defence strategy. “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 David Khalfa, co-founder of the Atlantic Middle East Forum. His killing came despite the fact that, unlike the reclusive new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Larijani had walked openly with crowds at a pro-government rally in Tehran just last week.

Iran’s military moved swiftly to avenge both deaths. The commander of Iran’s IRGC Aerospace Force announced what he called a “rapid strike,” warning that “tonight, the enemy’s sky will become more spectacular for you,” before the Guards confirmed they had launched “intense” attacks against Israel in retaliation. A barrage of Iranian missiles killed two people near Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv, while Gulf nations intercepted rockets and drones headed for targets including US military bases in the region.

The conflict is now spreading rapidly across the region. In Lebanon, pulled into the war by Iran-backed Hezbollah, Israel conducted a wave of deadly strikes including in central Beirut. An Iranian projectile struck near Australia’s military headquarters in the UAE, while Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said it intercepted a ballistic missile near Prince Sultan Air Base, which houses US military personnel.

Iranian army chief Amir Hatami issued a blunt warning, saying Iran’s response to Larijani’s assassination would be “decisive and regrettable.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards added that Larijani’s death would spur further attacks, declaring his blood would be “a source of honour, power and national awakening.”

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Iran’s foreign minister cast the conflict in global terms. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Wednesday that the global repercussions of the war “have only just begun and will hit all,” even as oil hovered around $100 a barrel amid Iran’s near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s parliament speaker separately vowed that shipping in the strait would not return to its pre-war norm — a declaration that sent fresh tremors through energy markets already reeling from the conflict’s outbreak.

Israel showed no sign of pulling back. Military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin vowed that Israeli forces would track down and eliminate Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since succeeding his father. “We will track him down, find him, and neutralise him,” he said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office posted a photograph of the Israeli leader on the phone, accompanied only by the message: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders the elimination of senior Iranian regime officials.”

Turkey was among the few voices calling for restraint. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan condemned Israel’s targeting of Iranian leaders as “illegal activities outside the normal laws of war,” describing the strikes as political assassinations that had no place in legitimate warfare.

A rare point of domestic tension in the US war effort also emerged Wednesday, as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent, resigned over the administration’s conduct of the Iran war — a move that has deepened divisions within MAGA circles over the scope and direction of US military engagement.