What Does Ali Larijani's Death Mean for Iran?

Iranian security official Ali Larijani was reportedly killed in a strike on Tuesday, leaving media outlets split on how to frame what the news means for the Iranian regime. 

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"Loss To Iran:" "When [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei was killed, [Larijani] was quick to appear on television offering a reassuring and grounded leadership for those worried Iran had no wartime strategy," wrote an opinion writer for The Guardian (Left bias). The writer framed Larijani diplomatically, as did multiple outlets on the left, saying he was "a driving ideological and practical force" who had "huge personal influence not just in Iran but with foreign states including China and Russia." 

The article called Larijani's death "a devastating body blow to the country and probably a bigger reverse than the loss of the supreme leader Ali Khamenei" and cautioned that it "cuts off the remote chance that he could have played a [transitional] role but also raises questions about whether the US actually has a candidate inside the country." The writer concluded, "The test now is whether the attrition, and gaping holes in Iran's intelligence operation, mean Iran cannot find another generation with which to renew itself."

"Regime Is Irredeemable:" Noah Rothman (Lean Right) declared Iran already failed that test. In an opinion for National Review (Right), he wrote, "The Iranian regime is irredeemable. There are no moderate forces inside the Islamic Republic that, if only the West hadn't killed them first, would have led Iran to a brighter day." In stark contrast to The Guardian writer, he called Larijani "one of the Islamic Republic of Iran's foremost repressors" and "the architect of the slaughter of perhaps tens of thousands of anti-regime protesters." He criticized coverage by CNN (Lean Left) and The Washington Post (Lean Left), which exhibited similar framing to The Guardian, as "apologetics for the Islamic Republic." 

Rothman quipped, "The rest of us might struggle to reconcile [faith] in Larijani's willingness to negotiate with the United States and Larijani's emphatic March 1 statement: 'We will not negotiate with the United States.'" Citing tyrannical examples from the regime's history, he concluded, "The products of 47 years of indoctrination into the millenarian creed that prevails inside the Islamic Republic are not interested in moderation."

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