Iranian state ‘strong’ despite death of top officials – foreign minister

Abbas Araghchi has said the killing of politicians by the US and Israel will not bring down the government

The killing of senior Iranian officials by the US and Israel will not cripple the government, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.

Araghchi made the comments shortly after Iran confirmed that Ali Larijani, the country’s security chief and one of its most powerful politicians, was killed in an airstrike in a Tehran suburb on Tuesday.

“I do not know why the Americans and the Israelis still have not understood this point: The Islamic Republic of Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic, and social institutions,” Araghchi told Al Jazeera.

“The presence or absence of a single individual does not affect this structure,” he added.

“Of course, individuals are influential, and each person plays their – some better, some worse, some less – but what matters is that the political system in Iran is a very solid structure,” the diplomat said.

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The US and Israel have killed a number of high-ranking Iranian officials and commanders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who died during the first wave of strikes on February 28. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was later appointed to succeed him.

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have listed regime change in Iran as part of their rationale for the war and have called on Iranians to overthrow the government.

Larijani said earlier this month that the orderly selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts, amid ongoing airstrikes, demonstrates the resilience of Iran’s political system and society.