Senior Iranian leader Ali Larijani, who was considered the main mind behind the Iranian leadership, was killed in an overstrike along with his son and aides, Iran’s supreme national security council said. In a statement by Iran’s semi-official Mehr news, the country’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed the news.
“After a lifetime of striving for the elevation of Iran and the Islamic Revolution, he finally reached his long-cherished wish, answered the call of truth, and proudly attained the blessed rank of martyrdom in the service front,” a statement from the council carried by Mehr read.
He was killed along with his son, close associates, and bodyguards. “The pure souls of the martyrs embraced the purified soul of God’s righteous servant, Martyr Dr. Ali Larijani,” the Iranian council said on Tuesday.
“In the early hours of the morning, he was martyred along with his son Morteza, Alireza Bayat, and a number of bodyguards,” it added.
Israel Defense Minister Katz said on Tuesday that “the leaders of the regime are being killed and their capabilities terminated. ”.
“Our army is working with strength to continue to hit and terminate the missile capabilities as well as the strategic infrastructure,” he posted on social media.
“This morning we eliminated Ali Larijani, the boss of the Revolutionary Guards, which is the gang of gangsters that actually runs Iran,” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said.
“But if we persist in this, we will give them a chance to take their fate into their own hands,” he said.
US President Donald Trump, without naming Larijani, hailed his death. “Their leaders are gone,” Trump said of Iran’s clerical regime. “It’s an evil group. I mean, they’ve killed much more than 32,000 people. And the man who was responsible for that was also killed yesterday,” he said.
Larijani was last seen in Tehran on Friday during Quds Day rallies. On the same day, the United States announced a reward of up to $10 million for information on 10 Iranian intelligence and military officials, including Larijani and others linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Larijani is considered a real power behind Iran’s leadership with strong connections with religious leaders, which includes family ties through his marriage to the daughter of a senior cleric linked to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
He serves as a prominent secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and was appointed to this position in August 2025 by President Masoud Pezeshkian. He has also been named as an adviser to the late Supreme Leader of Iran.
Furthermore, his brother, Sadegh Larijani, also serves as a significant figure within the Islamic Republic by serving as the chair of the Expediency Council, a body acting as the ultimate decision maker between parliament and the Guardian Council.
