This Radical Dispatch Newszine - below - is provided free for all subscribers.
At the top of this post, Resistance Radio presents our WARRIOR CREED video/audio podcast from Tuesday 17th March 2026, with a transcript provided - Israel Kills Iranian Security Chief Ali Larijani.
This podcast can be set to either audiovisual, or just audio, and is for premium members of Radical Media only. To listen, basic members should upgrade to the premium service here:
Read on now for our free Radical Dispatch.
Israel Kills Iran Security Chief, Paramilitary Head & Intelligence Minister, in Succession
- A Radical Dispatch
1) Iranian Security Chief, Paramilitary Head & Intelligence Minister all Killed
It has been another bad week for Iran.
The Shia-Islamist regime has experienced its second total leadership decapitation, after the first took out their theocrat Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
This time, the Israelis killed the Iranian theocracy’s Security Chief Ali Larijani, its Paramilitary Head Gholamreza Soleimani and its Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, all in succession.
Sky News reports 17th March 2026:
Click to play:
Sky News: “The very latest coming out of the Iran war. Two bits to remind you of that have come from the Israelis, that they’ve eliminated two very high-profile targets in Iran over the course of the last 24 hours. The head of the Basij militia, Mr. Soleimani, and the Iranian security chief, Ali Larijani. And there’s been further breaking news relating to that, that a Iranian state media has published a handwritten note on social media from Larijani, the now deceased Larijani, according to the Israeli defence minister, which this handwritten note commemorates the memory of Iranian sailors killed in the US attack, whose funeral is expected to be held on Tuesday.”
Israel’s jubilant Foreign Minister announced this news despite ongoing Iranian denials. The Iranians conceded the point themselves a day later.
Click to play:
Israel’s Foreign Minister: “We took out commander of the Basij, Soleimani, and his deputy and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani. The Iranians are also safer without them. By the way, we still haven’t seen Mojtaba. Wouldn’t you like to see him, minister? He should show his face. He can hide. He can continue to hide. But to show his face, because it’s beginning to be embarrassing for this regime. The besiege under Soleimani’s command was responsible for the brutal repression of the Iranian people seeking their freedom. Soleimani was under US and EU sanctions for his role in repressing Iranians. Larijani was also under US sanctions for the same reason, with a $10 million prize on his head. We did it for free, anyhow. The besieged used cruel and violent methods against their own people. In January, the regime butchered probably over 30,000 Iranians. Our actions are weakening its repression mechanism the regime can only be toppled by the Iranian people. Yet, without external help, the Iranian people cannot liberate themselves.”
The reference to an absent Mojtaba points to Ayatollah Khamenei’s son and successor, Mujtaba Khamenei who has not been seen at all since he was selected to become Iran’s next theocrat Supreme Leader.
Such a prolonged absence has led Trump to speculate whether he is even alive.
Regardless, amidst uncertainty around Mujtaba’s fate, security chief Ali Larijani was acting as Iran’s de facto leader. He has now certainly been killed.
On the same day, Israel managed to take out the commander of Iran’s feared Basij internal suppression paramilitary unit, Gholamreza Soleimani.
This was followed on the next day by the killing of Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.
These three successive national security killings are effectively a second decapitation of the Iranian theocracy’s leadership.
As we forecasted from the very first night of these strikes, such leadership decapitations will continue until a leader emerges who is willing to strike a deal with President Trump.
Radical Media reports 10th March 2026:
We hold to our view that, in the process, the Iranian regime will stay intact.
Radical Media reports 5th March 2026:
Today, the regime-change advocating Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to have conceded this point too:
Click to play:
PM Netanyahu: “…to create the conditions for it to collapse. But it may survive, it may not. If it survives, it’ll be a lot weaker. There’s no comparison. It’ll be at its weakest point, shorn of industries that it built over decades, death industries, shorn of many other capabilities that they have, and equipped with the experience, with the knowledge, that if they try it again, they’ll be hit again even harder.”
2) Who Was Larijani?
Of the most significant of the three killed leaders was Security Chief Ali Larijani, who was de facto ruler of Iran. Some Iranian-American and other commentators saw Larijani’s killing as the removal of an ‘off-ramp’ for Trump, representing a step back from a potential ceasefire.
In realty, and after its second decapitation, it is what remains of the Iranian leadership that will be in need of an off-ramp, not President Trump.
Such skepticism however has found support from a surprising quarter. Joseph Kent, who was until that day head of the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), resigned in protest at what he called “Israel’s war” on Iran.
This is significant for Trump, not so much because of what Kent has said, but because of who he is while saying what he has said.
Outside of podcast commentators such as Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, Kent represents a national security insider taking the view that Israel exerts undue influence over American foreign policy.
Kent’s resignation won’t so much affect President Trump as it will affect Israel’s ability to project soft power inside the US over the long term. Trump has repeatedly acknowledged that US and Israeli interests may diverge at times.
Click to play:
Journalist: “Speaking with Prime Minister Netanyahu, are your objections the same in terms of ending the war”
President Trump: “Well, I think they might be a little different, I guess. You know, they’re a different country than we are. But he will tell you there’s never been a power like the power of the United States. I built our military in my first term. Continue to do so. But I built our military and rebuilt it. It was in bad shape just like the wall, just like the border, just like everything else in our country was all in bad shape. But I rebuilt the military in my first term and we’re using it in this term to, you know, really for the sake of good, for the sake of peace and for the sake of safety and good.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s actions in Iran will remain unchanged. And his targeting of Iranian leaders who refuse to play ball will continue unabated until someone emerges who is ready to play ball.
Larijani, after all, sought to actively stir the Islamic world against its own leaders, and behind Iran’s war.
Here is Larijani’s letter to Muslims around the world.
On Larijani, US and Israeli interests can quite easily be seen to converge, because of the role Larijani took on conducting this war.
This is why the Sunni Muslim Arab world will not be shedding many tears for Larijani’s death, as we shall see further below.
3) Superpower politics
As we stated last week, Iran was the only regional country not to join Trump’s Gaza peace board. For that reason alone Iran may be being bombed into submission.
Trump has made his rationale clear: these strikes were necessary to avoid World War III.
Click to play:
President Trump: “…Israel and then the Middle East. And you know that because all of those missiles that were launched against their neighbours were set long ago, long before they knew they would be using them this quickly. Had we not done this, you would have had a nuclear war that would have evolved into World War III.”
Considering the absolute military dominance the Americans have over Iran, and compared to what they could do, they remain relatively constrained. The aim is clearly to bomb Iran into submission to the regional peace deals that Trump has lined up.
Click to play:
President Trump: “…to win this, they win it quickly but win it, and there are many people I’m just watching uh some of the news, most people say it’s already been won. It’s just a question of when. When do we stop? We don’t want to let it regrow, and ideally would like to see somebody in there that knows what they’re doing. In other words, they can build a country. Now one other thing, we can hit sections of Tehran and other places that, if you do it, it’ll be almost impossible for them to rebuild their country. And we don’t want that. But we can take apart their electric capacity within one hour, and it would take them 25 years to rebuild it. So ideally, we’re not going to be doing that. Thank you very much.”
And in doing so, Trump is very clear that the Americans do not need anyone else. They will get on with the job themselves.
Click to play:
President Trump: “We don’t need anybody. We’re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don’t need them. But it’s interesting. I’m almost doing it in some cases, not because we need them, but because I want to find out how they react. Because I’ve been saying for years that if we ever did need them, they won’t be there. Not all of them, but they won’t be there. I was very surprised with the United Kingdom. Because the United Kingdom...two weeks ago, I said, why don’t you send some ships over? And he really didn’t want to do it. I said, you don’t want to do it. We’ve been with you. You’re our oldest ally. And we spend a lot of money on, you know, NATO and all of these things to protect you. I mean, we’re protecting them. We’re working with them on Ukraine. Ukraine’s thousands of miles away, separated by a vast ocean. We don’t have to do that, but we did it. Well, Biden did it. I mean, I have to be honest with you, Biden. We don’t need anybody.”
This is why the often hysterical reaction against Trump’s plans by corporate media is not so relevant. Trump has even mocked corporate media for being ignorant of the operational details anyhow.
Click to play:
Journalist: “Will it be necessary to use even a limited ground force to secure whatever nuclear material remains in Iran as part of that threat? And secondly, have you made a decision?”
President Trump: “You mean to go in and get it?”
Journalist: “Yes, sir.”
President Trump: “Why would I tell you a thing like that? You know, I can’t stand reporters. Sir, will you attack Kargh Island? Will you occupy Kargh Island? They ask me these questions. And I don’t want to be mean, but they’re stupid questions. If any president answered those questions, they shouldn’t be president.”
Indeed, such is the American military dominance that there is only one way this conflict can go. Iran will eventually surrender.
Click to play:
Maajid Nawaz for WARRIOR CREED: “It’s just to highlight just how much dominance America has over Iran right now. It has dominated the Iranian theocracy’s skyline. It is able to strike anywhere at any time, at will. It has demonstrated that not just by the strike on Kargh Island and by sparing Iran’s oil refineries there, but also by decapitating its leadership time and again. The American and Israeli alliance in striking Iran is able to strike anywhere at any time at will. And what that really indicates is that the Iranian regime stands completely isolated, has no chance of winning. But crucially, the Americans and Israelis would not be dominating the skyline in Iran if the Russians and the Chinese had not taken a step back. The only way you stop another country dominating a sky is by sending your own jets to stop them. Iran doesn’t have an air force. It would have had to have been the Russian or Chinese. The Chinese aren’t going to get involved anytime soon. And the Russians clearly, as they’ve indicated, have decided to stand back. And in fact, from Syria, the Russian Navy voluntarily withdrew. So all of this appears to us to reconfirm the idea that the world is being divided into spheres of influence, as we have said repeatedly on radical media. Venezuela was part of that. Syria was part of it. The American sphere of influence will include Venezuela and Cuba. The Middle East will be settled in the way that we’re currently witnessing for it to emerge eventually its own sphere of influence led by the Sunni Muslim Arabs of the region. Russia gets its own sphere of influence and Ukraine will be settled in Russia’s favour and China will get its own sphere of influence and Taiwan will be settled probably in China’s favour. So you end up with a Russian sphere, a Chinese sphere, a NATO stroke Western sphere and a Middle Eastern sphere”
4) Regional Acquiescence
As we have stated from the onset, Iran’s surrender will be hastened by Sunni Muslim Arabs who have turned their backs on the Iranian theocracy after it started to bomb them during the holy month of Ramadan.
Because of this, they have gone from being neutral to actively encouraging the US to finish the job.
“Gulf Arab states did not ask the U.S. to go to war with Iran, but many are now urging it not to stop short by leaving the Islamic Republic still able to threaten the Gulf’s oil lifeline and the economies that depend on it, three Gulf sources told Reuters. At the same time, these sources and five Western and Arab diplomats said Washington was pressing Gulf states to join the U.S.-Israeli war. According to three of them, President Donald Trump wants to show regional backing for the campaign, to bolster its international legitimacy as well as support at home. ‘There is a wide feeling across the Gulf that Iran has crossed every red line with every Gulf country,’ said Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Saudi-based Gulf Research Center and familiar with government thinking. ‘At first we defended them and opposed the war,’ he said. ‘But once they began directing strikes at us, they became an enemy. There is no other way to classify them’.”
The Saudis are still threatening military retaliation, against the country that is bombing them, Iran not Israel.
Today, the Saudis directly responded to the (now deceased) Iranian Security Chief Ali Larijani’s call for “Islamic unity”, with incredulity.
Here, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan can be seen ridiculing Iran’s claims to lead the Islamic world.
Click to play:…
To see this video and to finish reading today’s Radical Dispatch, become a premium member of Radical Media here:
