Israel has claimed that Iran’s top national security official, Ali Larijani, has been killed in the overnight airstrike.
However, there is no confirmation from Iranian officials regarding the news.
The development, if true, could be the biggest blow to Iran’s leadership since the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israeli Defense Minister Katz told reporters on Tuesday, March 17, that the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council had been “eliminated” along with Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Basij paramilitary force.
Ali Larijani’s reported death is not simply the loss of another high-ranking officer; it is the removal of the singular figure holding together a divided Iranian regime.
A member of the powerful political dynasty sometimes referred to as the “Iranian Kennedys”, the 67-year-old Larijani was far from an ordinary politician.
The veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, a former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and holder of a Ph.D. in Western philosophy, with books on the subject Kant authored by him, was the ultimate insider.
After the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Larijani became Iran’s de facto leader.
As secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, he was the regime’s “mastermind”, exploiting close ties to the IRGC and senior clerics to consolidate power.
