Ali Larijani, Iran’s security chief and powerful regime insider, is killed in strikes, Israel says

Ali Larijani, Iran’s top national security official and one of the regime’s most powerful figures, was killed in overnight strikes, Israel said Tuesday.

Tehran has not confirmed or denied the death of Larijani, 67, and it was not immediately clear what Israel was basing its assessment on. There was also no immediate confirmation from the United States.

It would mark the most senior leader killed in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei late last month, and a significant blow to the ruling clerical regime.

Larijani was officially the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, but was considered by many to be the country’s de facto leader after Khamenei’s death. He comes from a political dynasty that many referred to as Iran’s equivalent of the Kennedys.

For many years, Larijani was seen as the bookish front man for the regime, a counterpoint to his more fiery colleagues. But in recent months, the close adviser to Khamenei took a more hard-line turn as security chief and directed the brutal crackdown on anti-government protests that left thousands dead.

The State Department offered a $10 million reward last week for information on Larijani and other top regime officials.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told a news briefing Tuesday that Larijani and Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Basij volunteer paramilitary force that Iran uses to crush civilian protests, were killed Monday night.

Katz did not offer details of how Larijani was killed, but thanked air force pilots and ground crews, as well as intelligence personnel and “our American partners,” in carrying out the operation.

Larijani was born June, 3, 1958, in Najaf in neighboring Iraq, where his father, Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli, was studying at the Shia seminary.

Larijani’s father was a well-respected cleric and his standing among the clergy gave Larijani and his brothers a boost as they rose through the political ranks after the establishment of the Islamic Republic.

During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Larijani served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is now the most powerful military, economic and political force in the country.

Despite growing up in a clerical household, Larijani chose to pursue university studies. He received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Sharif University of Technology and a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Tehran where he focused his research on the works of Immanuel Kant, according to the semiofficial Mehr news agency.

“The Mathematical Method in Kant’s Philosophy” is one of the books that he wrote based on his studies.

Larijani, who was generally seen as a pragmatist in Iranian politics, served in several senior positions before becoming Iran’s top national security official. He was the speaker of Parliament for 12 years and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator not long after its nuclear program was first made public.

His brother Sadeq Larijani was the head of the judiciary for a decade and another brother, Mohammad Javad Larijani, a University of California, Berkeley, graduate who speaks fluent English, served as the head of a top human rights body where he often appeared as Iran’s representative at international gatherings.

For several years, Larijani and Sadeq Larijani simultaneously served as the heads of the legislative and judicial branches of the Iranian government.

In January, Larijani’s daughter, Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, left her position as an assistant professor in the department of hematology and medical oncology at the medical school of Emory University, according to The Emory Wheel, the student newspaper at the university.

Her departure came after a protest at the university over Larijani’s role in the bloody crackdown on anti-government protests in early January.

The Treasury Department sanctioned Larijani for his role in the crackdown in January.

“Larijani was one of the first Iranian leaders to call for violence in response to the legitimate demands of the Iranian people,” the statement from the Treasury said.

After the death of Khamenei, it was Larijani, rather than Khamenei’s son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei, who became the public face of the regime.

He made appearances at political gatherings like the Quds Day rally in Tehran last Friday, where he was walking in the streets with crowds.

Larijani has also been one of the most outspoken Iranian officials since the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28, repeatedly berating President Donald Trump on social media.

“Trump says he is looking for a speedy victory. While starting a war is easy, it cannot be won with a few tweets. We will not relent until making you sorry for this grave miscalculation #TrumpMustPay,” he wrote in a post on X last week.

In another, he warned Trump that “The Iranian people do not fear your hollow threats,” adding that more powerful forces than Trump’s White House had failed “to wipe them out.” He urged the U.S. to “beware, lest you are the ones who are eliminated.”