Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani was killed in overnight strikes, Israel said Tuesday, marking a significant moment in the conflict. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Larijani was “eliminated.” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council later confirmed Larijani was killed along with his son, Morteza Larijani, the head of his office, Alireza Bayat, and several guards.
Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was among the most senior leaders still alive in Iran after top figures — including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — were killed at the start of the war. A hardliner by background and a trusted insider of the late Khamenei, Larijani was one of the few officials able to bridge military, intelligence and political decision-making, and to manage both the conduct of the war and the politics surrounding it.
He had a long career in the Islamic Republic: a former Revolutionary Guards officer, he ran state broadcasting, served as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, and was speaker of parliament for more than a decade. In recent months he had returned to the core of power as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, effectively running day-to-day strategy as pressure mounted. He also came from one of Iran’s most powerful clerical families, an important factor in the theocratic system.
Larijani could both operate inside the security state and engage in external negotiation. He helped shape Iran’s nuclear posture and had been involved in quiet efforts to reopen channels with Washington even as tensions rose. He was a rare figure who could shape messaging, signal intentions, and maintain lines of communication externally while remaining fully trusted by Tehran’s leadership. His combination of understanding escalation dynamics and knowing where to stop made him one of the few people capable of managing both sides of a crisis; without him, that capability is reduced.
In the short term, his operational impact may be limited. Politically, however, his death is likely to harden attitudes within Tehran and reinforce a narrative that this is an existential fight aimed at dismantling the regime. Over time, it removes one of the few insiders who could help shape a political off-ramp and manage how the war might end.
Larijani’s loss is also personal to the new leadership: Mojtaba Khamenei, now the supreme leader and son of the late ayatollah, loses one of the few men who understood how his father exercised power. Still, the Islamic Republic’s institutions are built to absorb such losses; power does not vanish but shifts within the system.
In his final public messages, Larijani framed the conflict as existential, challenging Muslim countries for their apparent silence—asking, “Which side are you on?”—while denying Iran sought domination over its neighbors. He last appeared publicly on Friday at an al-Quds Day demonstration in Tehran, walking through crowds in an act of defiance amid the fighting.
The Israeli military also announced the killing of Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force. The IDF said the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, “targeted and eliminated” Soleimani, accusing the Basij of leading harsh repression and widespread arrests during anti-government protests. The IDF called Soleimani’s death “an additional significant blow to the regime’s security command-and-control structures” and vowed to continue targeting commanders of what it called the Iranian terror regime.
The U.S. said earlier this month that operations had killed 49 of “the most senior Iranian regime leaders.” Washington also announced it was offering up to $10 million, and opportunities to relocate, for information on the whereabouts of 10 senior Iranian figures; Larijani had been among those listed.