Videos circulating Friday showed Ali Larijani, a prominent figure in the Iranian political establishment, attending a rally in Tehran alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, despite recent assertions by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that Iranian leadership was “cowering” underground.
The appearance of Larijani and other officials follows joint U.S. And Israeli strikes that began on February 28, which reportedly killed several top Iranian officials, including the elder Ali Khamenei, father of the current Supreme Leader. The younger Khamenei is believed to have been injured in the strikes and has not been seen publicly, though he released a statement on Thursday.
The U.S. Has designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization, accusing it of responsibility for attacks resulting in the deaths of U.S. Citizens. Washington has also alleged Iranian orchestration of assassination plots targeting former President Donald Trump and other U.S. Officials, purportedly in retaliation for the 2020 killing of IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani.
Iran consistently denies sponsoring terrorism, dismissing U.S. Allegations as politically motivated attempts to justify pressure campaigns and sanctions. The IRGC, established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, maintains loyalty to the Supreme Leader and is tasked with safeguarding the Shi’ite clerical establishment, according to information from the organization’s official website.
The IRGC consists of five service branches: Ground Forces, Aerospace Force, Navy, the Quds Force, and the Basij. As of 2024, the IRGC has approximately 125,000 active personnel, and its 2020 budget was $6.96 billion. The organization’s ideology encompasses Khomeinism, Shia Islamism, Jihadism, theocracy, conservatism, Iranian nationalism, anti-imperialism, anti-Zionism, and Pan-Islamism.
The U.S. State Department has offered a reward for information leading to the disruption of the financial networks of the IRGC, but has not specified what information would qualify for the reward, nor if it would need to lead to the capture or death of the officials. The IRGC could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday, Iran’s weekly day of rest. Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
