Decapitation campaign

A Decapitation campaign seeks to collapse an adversary's capacity to wage war by eliminating political, military, and institutional leadership rather than degrading forces in the field. Soleimani and his deputy were found sheltering in a makeshift tent encampment rather than their headquarters: confirmation the campaign is already reshaping Iranian command behaviour.

Israel is prosecuting a systematic Decapitation campaign against Iran's command tier, killing Ali Larijani — secretary of the Supreme National Security Council — alongside Gholamreza Soleimani, six-year commander of the Basij, in a single overnight strike on Tehran. Two days prior, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) destroyed Ali Khamenei's personal transport and the IRGC's logistics fleet at Mehrabad Airport.

Larijani's death carries particular weight because he spanned four decades as Parliament speaker, judiciary chief, nuclear negotiator, and SNSC secretary. That depth of institutional memory is irreplaceable. Whether Israel can sustain the campaign's tempo without eliminating the very interlocutors needed for a future settlement is the unresolved tension.