March 18, 2026 | 11:43 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Iran confirmed on Tuesday that senior security official Ali Larijani was killed in an Israeli strike, hours after Israel announced his death.
"Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, has been martyred," the Fars News Agency wrote on X, translated from Persian.
The Israeli military said Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Basij volunteer paramilitary force, was also "eliminated" overnight.
The 67-year-old Larijani was widely believed to have been running the country following the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Larijani was an advisor to the Ayatollah on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration and took part in negotiations in Oman in the weeks before the war.
In response to Larijani's killing, Iranian army chief Amir Hatami vowed a "decisive and regrettable" retaliation.
On Tuesday, March 17, 2026, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel had carried out two high-profile assassinations in overnight strikes in Tehran, claiming that Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij paramilitary force, had been killed.
According to Al Jazeera, Iranian state media later published what appeared to be a handwritten note from Larijani, though it remained unclear whether the message was intended as proof that he was still alive.
The note, shared on Larijani’s social media account, paid tribute to Iranian sailors killed in a U.S. attack on their vessel in international waters. A funeral for the sailors was expected to be held on Tuesday.
Ali Larijani’s killing marked one of the most significant assassinations in the war since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28 that killed former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several members of his family, according to reports.
Sita Planasari contributed to the report.
Read: Iran Confirms Death of National Security Chief Ali Larijani
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