ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said Tuesday it had killed Ali Larijani, a senior Iranian official and a central figure in Tehran’s high-stakes security and diplomatic circles, noting that he was slain in strikes a day earlier. Tehran has yet to confirm the claim.
The IDF said it “conducted a precise strike that eliminated Ali Larijani,” describing him as “the de facto leader” of the Iranian state, adding that the strike was carried out while he was located near Tehran.
The claim comes after a US-Israeli strike on February 28 killed Iran’s longtime supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (1939 - 2026).
While Khamenei’s second son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has since been appointed as the new supreme leader, Larijani, 68, was considered the closest in importance to the late Khamenei and played a central role in Tehran’s nuclear policy and strategic diplomacy for decades.
Larijani was appointed in August as secretary of Iran's highest security body, the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).
Earlier Tuesday, the IDF said it had also targeted and “eliminated” Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Basij is a large volunteer paramilitary group in Iran that serves as one of the five branches of the IRGC.
