Iran’s regime has used the funeral of slain IRGC officer Razi Mousavi to try to create support for more anti-Israel activities in the region. Mousavi was killed in Syria this week and buried in Iran on Thursday.Iran has sought to make this a spectacle, organizing a major funeral and speeches. The sudden death of Mousavi, whose killing Iran blames on Israel, has given Tehran an excuse to push for a new phase of escalation in the region.
This is interesting because Iran’s regime has sometimes sought to turn up the heat since October 7 and sometimes has tried to ignore the war in Gaza via its regime media. This seems counterintuitive.
Iran’s regime backs Hamas and supported the October 7 attack. But Iran’s regime also lacks clear message discipline on what it wants to do next.It has supported Houthi attacks on shipping, and Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel, and proxy militia attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria. However, none of this has become a game-changer in the region yet.Iran warns Israel will suffer for killing Mousavi
The death of Mousavi is thus becoming a huge media event for Iran’s regime media, in a way the war in Gaza has not always been for Iran’s media.For instance, on some days, Fars News or Tasnim News in Iran might cover the war in Gaza by trying to make it appear that Israel was massacring Palestinian civilians, but on other days, Iran’s media would focus on housing and domestic policy.
Now Mousavi’s death is an excuse for a new rallying cry by Tehran. He is portrayed as of the utmost importance, similar to the late IRGC Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani. IRGC head Hossein Salami, for instance, claimed that the death of Mousavi will lead to the destruction of Israel.The IRGC has long said Israel will be destroyed, so why would this incident change Iran’s calculation? It is unclear. Scenes of the funeral have been shown in Iran to try to make this incident seem different from the past. IRGC Quds Force head Ismail Qaani, who replaced the late Soleimani in 2020, was seen kissing the casket of Mousavi at the funeral events in Iran. Iran’s Supreme Leader also made a public visit to view the coffin.
The death of Mousavi now will be used by Iran to retroactively justify the October 7 attack. This was seen in a statement by a spokesperson for the IRGC who tried to link October 7 to the killing of Soleimani in 2020.The US killed Soleimani with a drone strike in January 2020. Therefore, there is no connection between Soleimani and October 7. However, there might be a connection between Mousavi and October 7.Hamas has denied Iran had a role in the October 7 attack. Hamas also denied reports this week that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was told about the attack some minutes before it happened.Iran would prefer to use the funeral of Mousavi to justify escalation in the region and make it seem like this is linked to October 7 in terms of seeking more justification for attacks on Israel.