THE GUARDIAN: If confirmed, death would make Larijani the most senior Iranian figure to be killed since Ali Khamenei on first day of war
Israel says it has killed a linchpin of Iranian politics, the national security chief, Ali Larijani, in overnight strikes, a claim that if confirmed would make him the most senior Iranian figure to die in the war since the supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed on its first day.
Iran has yet to comment on either claim. If confirmed, Larijani’s death would remove a pivotal figure at the heart of the regime’s political and security establishment at a moment of acute crisis and represent devastating blow.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said a separate strike killed the Basij paramilitary force commander, Gholamreza Soleimani, along with other senior Basij figures.
“Larijani and the Basij commander were eliminated overnight and joined the head of the annihilation programme, Khamenei, and all the eliminated members of the axis of evil, in the depths of hell,” Katz said on Tuesday.
Iranian state media published a handwritten note by Larijani, who was in effect leading the politics behind Iran’s war effort, commemorating sailors killed in a US attack whose funeral is expected on Tuesday, but it did not represent proof that he was alive since it was most likely written before Israel bombed.
The twin deaths, if confirmed, show Israel still retains intelligence on the movements of Iran’s top leaders inside Tehran, and can use it and the US’s near complete control of Iranian airspace to strike at will. » | Patrick Wintour in London and Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem | Tuesday, March 17, 2026
