{"id":2000105853,"date":"2026-03-19T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T06:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000105853"},"modified":"2026-03-19T10:09:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T08:09:02","slug":"what-to-know-about-death-of-irans-top-security-official-ali-larijani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/what-to-know-about-death-of-irans-top-security-official-ali-larijani\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know about death of Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Iran’s top security official, Larijani’s killing represents a major loss for Iran’s leadership and has sparked more intense retaliatory attacks from Tehran on Israeli and U.S. targets. Here is what you need to know about Larijani’s death:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who was Larijani?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Born in 1958, Larijani served as a senior official in Iran for several decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, he joined the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) in the early 1980s, before transitioning to government, serving as Culture Minister between 1994 and 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the early stages of Iran’s nuclear crisis, Larijani, who once served as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, played a key role in the process that ultimately led to a nuclear agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, Larijani ran for a seat in the Iranian parliament and was elected speaker, a position he held until 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larijani tried to run for president in 2021 and again in 2024, but on both occasions, the Constitutional Council disqualified him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, following the 12-day war between Israel, the United States and Iran, President Masoud Pezeshkian appointed Larijani as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did Larijani die?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in an Israeli strike in February, Larijani had played a key role in Iran’s national affairs, frequently issuing tough statements in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said that it carried out precision airstrikes in Tehran, killing Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Basij volunteer force, and Larijani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said later on Tuesday that Israel had killed Larijani, adding, “There are many more surprises.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late Tuesday night, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed that its secretary, Larijani, had been killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, the council said Larijani died early Tuesday alongside his son Morteza Larijani, deputy for security affairs at the council’s secretariat Alireza Bayat, and several others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council praised Larijani’s long service to Iran’s development and called for national unity in the face of external threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reactions to Larijani’s death<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei offered his condolences on Wednesday over the death of Larijani, while hinting at retaliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement on social media, he condemned the “assassination,” stating that those responsible would inevitably “pay the price for their crimes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Israel’s killing of Larijani will not deal a fatal blow to Iran’s leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I do not know why the Americans and the Israelis still have not understood this point: The Islamic Republic of Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic, and social institutions,” Araghchi said. “The presence or absence of a single individual does not affect this structure.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia on Wednesday condemned the killing of Larijani. “We certainly condemn actions intended to harm health or, even more so, to kill representatives of the leadership of a sovereign and independent Iran, as well as other countries. We condemn such actions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a daily briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamas on Wednesday also condemned the “treacherous” Israeli strike on Tehran that killed Larijani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Praising Larijani’s support for the Palestinian cause, the group extended condolences to Iran’s leadership and people, calling the attack a “flagrant aggression” against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
As Iran’s top security official, Larijani’s killing represents a major loss for Iran’s leadership and has sparked more intense retaliatory attacks from Tehran on Israeli and U.S. targets. Here is what you need to know about Larijani’s death:<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran on Tuesday confirmed that Ali Larijani, secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, had been killed in an Israeli attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000105854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[151,101],"byline":[235],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000105853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-editors-choice","tag-internationl","byline-xinhua"],"bylines":[{"id":235,"name":"Xinhua","slug":"xinhua","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":80}],"contributors":[{"id":235,"name":"Xinhua","slug":"xinhua","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":80}],"featured_image":{"id":2000105854,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/202603192e0f082c46d5405f850acfe29f3d808c_CcrbeeE000020_20260319_CBMFN0A001.jpeg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":900,"height":635,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/202603192e0f082c46d5405f850acfe29f3d808c_CcrbeeE000020_20260319_CBMFN0A001.jpeg","width":150,"height":106},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/202603192e0f082c46d5405f850acfe29f3d808c_CcrbeeE000020_20260319_CBMFN0A001.jpeg","width":300,"height":212},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/202603192e0f082c46d5405f850acfe29f3d808c_CcrbeeE000020_20260319_CBMFN0A001.jpeg","width":768,"height":542},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/202603192e0f082c46d5405f850acfe29f3d808c_CcrbeeE000020_20260319_CBMFN0A001.jpeg","width":900,"height":635},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/202603192e0f082c46d5405f850acfe29f3d808c_CcrbeeE000020_20260319_CBMFN0A001.jpeg","width":900,"height":635}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000105853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000105856,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105853\/revisions\/2000105856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000105854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000105853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000105853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000105853"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000105853"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000105853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}