Ali Larijani, ‘Delcy’ of Iran, survives the attacks and swears revenge against Israel and the US: “We will burn their hearts”

Larijani, according to sources in the Israeli armed forces, yes it was a goal and would have met with him Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the same Saturday morning in which Iran’s supreme leader was executed. His first movements indicate that he was indeed the man chosen to pilot the continuity of the regime in the event of a decapitation.

The veteran revolutionary, soldier and diplomat appeared on state television to confirm the “painful” death of the ayatollah who led the Islamic Republic with an iron fist for the last 37 years. He used the usual belligerent and colorful rhetoric to threaten reprisals against the US and Israelwhile warning against the temptation of a insurrection.

“They have burned the hearts of the Iranian people. We, in response, we will burn their hearts“, he pronounced, while greeting the senior officials killed in the bombings as “martyrs who strengthen the resistance of the people.” In reference to the “secessionist groups“that they could take advantage of the attack to destabilize the regime, he warned of a”bloody response“.

Larijani has also been responsible for announcing the formation of a Temporary Leadership Council which includes surviving leaders. Among them, the president of Iran, Masud Pezeshkian; the head of the Iranian judicial apparatus, Gholamhosein Mohseni-Ejei, and a jurist from the Guardian Council.

This announcement confirms her status as ‘Delcy of Iran’, a reference to Delcy Rodríguez, the vice president of Venezuela who has maintained the Chavista regime after the capture of Nicolás Maduro. This term was in the mouths of the Iranian elites themselves, and was part of the structure designated by Khamenei, who already anticipated his “martyrdom.”

Larijani has been part of the hard core of the Islamic revolution from the beginning. Last August he was appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Two factors drove this, according to the agency Reuters: are unwavering loyalty to Khamenei and its ability to mediate between the different families of power in Iran.

Considered a ‘pragmatist’ by the foreign ministries, the Ayatollah himself commissioned him to prepare the negotiations between the US and Iran by visiting Omar to meet with the Foreign Minister and mediator, Badr bin Hamad al Busaidi. He has also been in charge of negotiate in Moscow military cooperation agreements between both countries.

Despite the speech of the last few hours, Larijani had downplayed the importance of the nuclear conflict in recent weeks. “In my opinion this can be solved“, he had declared in an interview with Omani television. “If what worries Americans is that Iran is going to develop a nuclear weapon, It’s something we can discuss.“.

However, Washington identified him as one of the senior regime officials responsible for the bloody repression against pro-democracy protesters, which has left thousands dead across the country. “He has been one of the first leaders who asked exercise violence in response to the legitimate demands of the Iranian people“, denounced a statement from the Treasury Department this January while dictating sanctions against him.

Larijani already made himself known among European diplomacy as head of nuclear negotiations between 2005 and 2007, defending Iran’s right to enrich uranium. One of his phrases became popular when he described the offer of economic incentives in exchange for abandoning the nuclear program as “exchange a pearl for a bar of chocolate“.

However, Larijani’s emphasis on achieving a negotiated solution made him a well-regarded figure in the foreign services. He was speaker of the Iranian parliament between 2008 and 2020, and one of the people involved in the historic 2015 agreement that limited atomic development in the country. Donald Trump broke the pact when he came to power in 2018.

Larijani has since hardened his stance, claiming that the nuclear program “will never be destroyed.” “From the moment we possess the technology, they cannot take this knowledge away from us. It is as if you invent a machine and they take it away from you, you can build it again“, he illustrated in an interview with PBS Frontline.

However, being Khamenei’s chosen one does not imply that Larijani will obtain unanimous support at a time of maximum uncertainty for the regime. “If the chosen one comes from the political and not religious elite, the crisis of the velayat-e faqihthe governance of the Islamic jurist”Daniel Bashandeh, a political analyst specialized in the Middle East and Iran, explained to EL ESPAÑOL.