On March 18, Iran declared that Israel's killing of security leader Ali Larijani and other key officials would not hinder the country's operations, as positions were quickly replaced, while Israel launched a series of airstrikes targeting Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that the US and Israel do not understand that the Islamic Republic is a solid political system and does not depend on any individual.
The deaths of senior officials will not disrupt the operating apparatus and the state will continue to operate - Mr. Araqchi said in an interview with local media.
Iranian state television also reported that Tehran attacked Tel Aviv with cluster-bomb missiles in response to Israel's assassination of Mr. Larijani.
A statement from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) broadcast on state television said that the weapons used included Khorramshahr 4 and Qadr missiles, both carrying multiple warheads.
Israeli officials confirmed that the attacks killed 2 people in the Ramat Gan residential area, near Tel Aviv - a densely populated area with important military facilities - bringing the total number of deaths in Israel in the war to at least 14.
Israel believes that Iran has repeatedly used cluster warheads - weapons separated into many small warheads in the air and spread widely over large areas - making interception difficult.
The war between the US and Israel against Iran has not shown signs of cooling down after nearly 3 weeks, when Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei rejected proposals forwarded to the country's Foreign Ministry on "reducing tensions or ceasing fire with the US", according to an unnamed senior Iranian official.
At the first foreign policy meeting since taking office recently, Mr. Khamenei said that now is "not the right time for peace until the US and Israel are subdued, accept defeat and compensate," according to the official.
