Chinese experts assess military decapitation in Iran, Venezuela for lessons closer to home

2026.03.18 13:50 The Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was the first in a string of top officials killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran since February 28. Photo: Reuters Iran’s power structure, succession mechanism and geographic conditions are all factors in its military resilience, despite the decapitation of its leadership by the US and Israel, according to Chinese experts. They also said the United States was unlikely to achieve regime change in Iran without deploying ground forces, a lesson one expert argued Beijing would take into account for any operation on Taiwan. Beginning on February 28, the US and Israel have killed a string of senior Iranian religious and military officials in decapitation operations – strikes that aim to remove an opponent’s leadership with surgical precision, potentially creating a power vacuum. The campaign has eliminated Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammad Pakpour; army chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi; defence minister Aziz Nasirzadeh and, in an Israeli air strike on Tuesday, national security chief Ali Larijani. However, unlike the US’ earlier decapitation operation in Venezuela, which then gave in to Washington, Iranian forces have stayed in the fight, launching retaliatory drone and missile attacks against Israeli and US military bases in the Middle East as well as other targets. How long the US-Israel air strikes last remains a subject of intense debate, with US President Donald Trump sending out mixed signals. He has said that military operations against Iran might last four to five weeks, but also that the US would withdraw from the war “in the very near future”, while simultaneously demanding Tehran’s “unconditional surrender”. Analysts in China believe Iran’s political and military organisations possess a certain resilience and preparedness in the face of decapitation strikes. Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Studies at Nanjing Univer

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