![]() |
|
'Decimated'? The Iranian leaders killed in Israeli-US war Paris, France, March 20 (AFP) Mar 20, 2026 US-Israeli airstrikes after almost three weeks of war have killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei and a whole echelon of the political and military elite in the Islamic republic. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said Iran is "being decimated" while the Israeli army on its Persian-language X account described the Iranian leadership as a "house of cards that is collapsing". But several key figures have survived and the Islamic republic has shown resilience in rapidly replacing killed leaders and also keeping up the war against the US and Israel. In the latest such attack, the spokesman of the Revolutionary Guards Ali Mohammad Naini was killed in a US-Israel strike at dawn on Friday, according to the force. Here is a recap of the some of the key figures killed so far in the war:
His low-profile son Mojtaba survived -- although reportedly with injuries -- and took over as supreme leader. He has yet to make a public appearance. Ali Khamenei has yet to be buried although Mojtaba has said in a written statement he saw the body.
Larijani was killed on March 17 in an Israeli strike, reportedly in the Tehran region and which also killed family members. The week earlier, he had defiantly walked in public in Tehran at a pro-government rally.
He was killed on the first day of the war and has been replaced by former interior and defence minister Ahmad Vahidi.
He had been severely wounded, and initially reported dead, in a strike during Israel's June war against Iran but later re-emerged. He was given a public funeral in Tehran's Tajrish Square and reportedly buried without a head.
Just before his death was confirmed the Fars news agency issued a statement quoting Naini as saying Iran's missile production deserved a "perfect score" and was continuing despite the war.
sjw/adp/ser |
|
|
|
All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
|