Decapitation strikes
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Decapitation strikes, killing an adversary's senior leadership in the expectation that the organisation or state will collapse behind them, are a theory of victory John Kiriakou rejects outright, on the evidence of his own service.

Twenty-seven number threes

The joke he says circulated at the agency for years is the whole argument in one line: "We used to have this ongoing joke at the agency that we killed 27 number threes in Al-Qaeda."

What makes it more than a joke is his assessment of its accuracy, "which was probably true. It's just that they keep coming up with a new number three."

Applied to Iran

Kiriakou carries the same logic into the 2026 Iran war, where the opening strikes killed much of Iran's political, military and scientific leadership. His expectation was that it would change nothing, because the state has the same depth al-Qaeda had: "You can keep killing Ayatollahs and ministers of this and ministers of that. It doesn't make any difference. There are always others who are going to take their position."

The Iranians, he adds, "can keep coming up with new generals and new ministers and new scientists." His conclusion is delivered as flatly as the joke: "Decapitation strikes are not it."

He attaches to it a prediction about the war's length, drawn from the same reading: "I think this is going to be a longer war than people realize. I think that the Iranians are very smart. I think they're incredibly resilient."

See also

- John Kiriakou
- 2026 Iran war
- Tulsi Gabbard
