Iran confirmed the death of its security chief, Ali Larijani, in an Israeli air strike late Tuesday night. The country's Supreme National Security Council said that Larijani's son and bodyguards also died with him.
"The pure souls of the martyrs embraced the purified soul of God's righteous servant, Martyr Dr. Ali Larijani," the council said, adding, “After a lifetime of struggle for the advancement of Iran and of the Islamic Revolution, he ultimately attained his long-held aspiration, answered the divine call, and honourably achieved the sweet grace of martyrdom in the trench of service.”
Separately, the chief of Iran's Basij paramilitary force, Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, was also killed in an attack, as per Iranian state media cited by Al-Jazeera.
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Who Was Ali Larijani?
One of the most powerful figures in the country's establishment, Larijani was the highest-level Iranian official to be killed by Israel since Ayatollah Khamenei, whose death in US-Israeli strikes sparked a war on February 28.
The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Larijani, was last seen publicly in Tehran during the al-Quds Day parade on Friday.
The 67-year-old played an important role in the three-man transitional council running Iran post-Khamenei's death.
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Ali Larijani was born on June 3, 1958, in Najaf, Iraq, to a wealthy family that originally hailed from the Iranian city of Amol. His family was so influential that Time magazine described them as the “Kennedys of Iran” in 2009.
Larijani graduated from the Sharif University of Technology with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science. He then completed his master's and doctorate degrees in Western philosophy from the University of Tehran, with a thesis on the German thinker Immanuel Kant.
His father, Mirza Hashem Amoli, was a prominent religious scholar. When he was 20, Larijani married Farideh Motahari, the daughter of Morteza Motahhari, a close confidant of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic of Iran's founder.
After the Iranian Revolution, Larijani joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1981, serving as a commander in the early years of the Iran-Iraq war, DW reported. After the war, he held several political positions in the country, from Iran's cultural minister to the head of its state-funded broadcaster.
Larijani first ran for president in 2005, but never made it to the runoff. Instead, he became the secretary-general of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and its chief nuclear negotiator.
He rose to the position of speaker in 2008 and managed to hold it for three consecutive terms. Larijani played a key role in securing legislative support for the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015.
Seen as a "moderate conservative," he attempted to run for president in 2021 and 2024, but was disqualified. He was reappointed to the security council in 2025.
For decades, Larijani was seen as a calm, pragmatic person in the Iranian government. However, his tone changed in recent days. Appearing on state television just a day before US-Israeli air attacks killed Khamenei, Larijani delivered a fiery message, vowing to deliver “an unforgettable lesson” to US and Israeli forces. After the war started, he also shut down the possibility of negotiations with the US.
The 67-year-old is believed to have overseen the crackdown by Iranian security forces on protests across the Islamic nation in December and January, the BBC said. At least 6,508 people were killed and 53,000 arrested, according to human rights activists.
The US had offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on senior Iranian officials, including Larijani, as part of a list of key figures connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Guardian reported.
On Monday, Larijani issued a statement asking the Muslim world to help Iran in its struggle. He also challenged the Gulf states, asking why they had allowed the US to use their bases.
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