Israel claimed on Tuesday that it killed Iran’s National Security Chief Ali Larijani in overnight airstrikes. If confirmed, it would mark the most senior Iranian official to die since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the conflict.
Iran has not commented on the report.
A separate strike also reportedly eliminated the commander of the Basij paramilitary force, Gholamreza Soleimani, along with other senior Basij figures, according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. The Basij Resistance Force is a volunteer organization that operates under the direction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
“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, The Guardian reported.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Netanyahu had ordered “the elimination of senior officials of the Iranian regime.”
If verified, Larijani’s death would remove a central figure who had been leading Iran’s political and security efforts during the conflict. He was appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council in August and had appeared publicly as recently as last week at a Quds Day rally in Tehran.
Iranian state media published a handwritten note attributed to Larijani commemorating sailors killed in a U.S. attack, but the message was likely written before the strikes.
The U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran entered its third week on Tuesday with at least 2,000 people killed and no end in sight. Iran has retaliated by targeting Gulf neighbors and ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Larijani had played a key diplomatic role before the conflict and issued a recent statement appealing for Muslim support while criticizing Gulf states for allowing U.S. bases to be used against Iran. He was viewed as one of the more pragmatic voices in the establishment but had hardened his stance after Khamenei’s death.
