Command Palette

Search for a command to run...

Discover

Israel Claims Killing Iran’s Top Security Official Ali Larijani in Strikes

Israel Claims Killing Iran’s Top Security Official Ali Larijani in Strikes
Click to expand

Israel said on Tuesday it had killed Ali Larijani, Iran’s top security official and de facto political power broker, along with Basij paramilitary commander Gholamreza Soleimani, in overnight airstrikes that hit Tehran and other cities, marking the most significant assassinations since the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month cnbc +1. Iran had not confirmed Larijani’s fate by midday Tuesday, leaving a critical ambiguity at the center of an already spiraling regional war theguardian.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said military intelligence had confirmed the two men were “eliminated” in targeted strikes, one of them “in the heart of Tehran,” and vowed to continue “hunting the leadership of the regime of terror and oppression in Iran” aljazeera +1. The operation formed part of what the Israeli military described as a “wide‑scale wave” of attacks on regime infrastructure in Tehran, Shiraz and Tabriz, days after Larijani publicly appeared at Quds Day rallies and rebuked Arab states for failing to back Iran in the conflict theguardian +1.

A Decapitation Campaign Aimed at Iran’s Core Security Apparatus

Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a veteran nuclear negotiator, had emerged as a central figure trying to manage Iran’s response after Khamenei was killed in the opening salvo of U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28 telegraph +1. Removing him would deepen the disruption at the top of Iran’s already shaken command structure, where Khamenei’s son Mojtaba has been elevated to supreme leader amid intense factional maneuvering timesofisrael.

Soleimani, who led the Basij for six years and is under U.S. and EU sanctions for his role in crushing protests, oversaw a force central to internal repression and mobilization during wartime aljazeera. Israel framed the assassination of both men as part of a deliberate campaign to “strip away” the regime’s capacity to coordinate regional attacks. Yet even Israeli officials privately acknowledged to Reuters that Larijani’s status remained uncertain immediately after the strike, while a handwritten message posted to his social‑media account on Tuesday only added to confusion about whether he was killed, injured or in hiding cnbc +1.

Escalation Risks and a Cautious International Response

The killings threatened to push an already volatile conflict into a new phase, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps having previously vowed “ferocious” retaliation for any further high‑level assassinations following Khamenei’s death nypost. Analysts warned that if Tehran confirms Larijani’s death, it is likely to respond with intensified missile and drone attacks on Israel, expanded operations by allied militias in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, or renewed strikes on Gulf shipping and energy infrastructure wsj +1.

Key Western governments signaled they would not be drawn deeper into the fighting even as they voiced alarm over the latest escalation. Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK would “not be drawn into the wider war,” while Germany’s defense minister stressed, “This is not our war,” as European capitals resisted U.S. pressure to expand naval operations in the Strait of Hormuz reuters +1. The New York Times reported that more than 2,000 people had already been killed across the region since the conflict began, highlighting the human cost of each further step up the escalation ladder wsj.

The Bigger Picture

Whether Larijani is dead, gravely wounded or forced underground, Israel’s decision to target him alongside the Basij chief underscored a strategy of decapitating Iran’s leadership that carries as much risk as opportunity. If successful, it could weaken Tehran’s capacity to orchestrate a coordinated regional campaign; it could also harden hardline factions, provoke unpredictable retaliation and accelerate a conflict that major powers say they are unwilling to contain on the ground. With Iran still silent and Israel pledging “more of the same,” the next moves in Tehran and Tel Aviv will help determine whether this war edges toward a negotiated off‑ramp or slips into a broader Middle East conflagration.

cnbc Reuters; theguardian CNBC; aljazeera Washington Post; bbc Times of Israel; reuters BBC; telegraph Reuters profile of Larijani; wsj New York Times; timesofisrael CBS News; nypost France 24; thenationalnews CNBC analysis; npr New York Times / BBC statements.