Tehran

Before the assassination was confirmed, two sources gave The Jerusalem Post different indications on the likelihood of the success of the operation, which took place Tuesday night.

Despite historic enmity towards Hezbollah and Tehran, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has moved cautiously since US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran began on February 28.

Basij, a key paramilitary militia under the IRGC, has a violent history of suppressing protests, enforcing morality laws, and committing human rights abuses, including torture and sexual abuse.

Kharg Island, a tiny Persian Gulf outpost, controls nearly all of Iran’s oil exports, making it the regime’s key economic vulnerability.

Iran's top security official was constantly moving to different secret locations throughout the last two weeks, sources said, taking precautions to avoid being located by Israel.

Ali Larijani, a key behind-the-scenes figure in Iran, was killed in an IDF strike, leaving a major gap in the regime's leadership amid growing instability.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had held his first foreign policy session since being named supreme leader, and had taken a stance for revenge against the US and Israel that was “very tough and serious.”

Jordan’s carefully balanced neutrality has been expressed through both its diplomatic statements and through its actions, said Ofir Winter, a senior researcher at the INSS, Tel Aviv University.

Iran lost the first round badly. Its nuclear sites are rubble. Its air defenses are gone. The Revolutionary Guards have taken casualties they won't acknowledge for months.

Larijani, the son of a Shia jurisprudence scholar, held several senior roles within the Islamic Republic during his career, most recently as the Supreme National Security Council Secretary.