Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani was killed in Israeli strikes targeting senior Iranian leadership, marking a major escalation in the ongoing conflict, Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz has claimed, according to the Israeli media. An uncertainty had loomed amid claims that some of the top Iranian officials had been ‘eliminated’ after Israel’s overnight strikes. Hours later, Israel confirmed that it had killed Ali Larijani.
Reports also suggest that Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, was also killed in the same wave of overnight attacks.
“Larijani and the Basij commander were eliminated overnight and joined the head of the annihilation program, Khamenei, and all the eliminated members of the axis of evil, in the depths of hell,” Israel Katz said in a statement this morning.
The reports of Ali Larijani and Gholam Soleimani’s deaths came less than three weeks after US-Israeli strikes on February 28 killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, triggering a war that has engulfed the region.
While Iranian state media or officials have not immediately confirmed either death, they have published a message from Ali Larijani’s office.
Here’s what Ali Larijani’s handwritten note says:
The Iranian state media has released a handwritten note from Ali Larijani after he was killed in the overnight strikes by Israel. But it mostly appears to be a message for the funeral of Iranian sailors who were killed in the US strikes on the Iris Dena on March 4.
It said, “The martyrdom of the brave members of the Navy of the Army of the Islamic Republic in Dena is part of the sacrifices of the proud nation that has emerged in this time of struggle against international oppressors.”
“Their memory will always remain in the heart of the Iranian nation, and these martyrdoms will strengthen the foundations of the Army of the Islamic Republic for years to come within the structure of the armed forces.”
Who was Ali Larijani?
Ali Larijani was the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran and was also the right-hand man of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei was killed in the initial joint strikes by the United States and Israel on 28 February. Since the killing of Khamenei, Ali Larijani emerged as one of the country’s leading figures.
Ali Larijani hails from one of Iran’s most famous political families. A former parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, he was appointed to advise the late Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration.
He also served as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, its top security body.
