Iran Confirms Death of Top Security Official Ali Larijani

Tehran — Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has confirmed the death of its secretary, Ali Larijani, who was killed in an attack, according to Iranian news agency Tasnim on Wednesday 18 March local time.

In a statement, the council stated that Larijani died on Tuesday 17 March in the early morning hours alongside his son Morteza Larijani; Alireza Bayat, deputy for security affairs at the council’s secretariat; and several others, according to Tasnim.

The council praised Larijani’s long service to Iran’s development and called for national unity in facing external threats.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel had killed Larijani in an ongoing attack against Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed on Tuesday the death of Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij volunteer forces, in an American-Israeli strike.

The deaths come amid escalating regional tensions following a combined US and Israeli attack on Iran that began on 28 February, which was answered by Iran and its regional allies with strikes against Israel and American interests throughout the Middle East.