Israel says Iran’s top national security official, Ali Larijani, was killed in overnight airstrikes.
However, Iranian officials have not confirmed this news.
This development, if proven, could constitute the most significant blow to Iranian leaders 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 leader of the Basij paramilitary force.
The reported death of Ali Larijani not only signifies the loss of another high-ranking officer; it is the suppression of the singular figure that maintains the cohesion of a fractured Iranian regime.
A member of the powerful political dynasty sometimes called the “Iranian Kennedys,” Larijani, 67, was far from an ordinary politician.
The Iran-Iraq War veteran, former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and holder of a doctorate in Western philosophy, with books on Kant written 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 “brains” of the regime, leveraging his close ties to the IRGC and senior religious leaders to consolidate power.
