Ali Larijani dies as tensions deepen in Middle East

Ali Larijani, a veteran politician who helped lead Iran’s wartime efforts against the US and Israel, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, Iranian state media confirmed. He was 67.

He was killed alongside his son, according to a statement released by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Tuesday and published by state media. It didn’t give any details about the circumstances of his death. Israel had said earlier on Tuesday that it had killed Larijani in an overnight strike, calling him Iran’s de facto leader. 

For many years, Larijani had been a pillar of conservative politics in the Islamic Republic. He was renowned for his astute practicality and capacity to forge coalitions between the hardline and moderate blocs of the Principlist group that dominated the nation. The Islamic Republic’s pool of highly qualified senior executives who can be relied upon to maintain the system is further diminished by the death of Iran’s top security official, a crucial component of its current leadership structure. 

“Larijani has long been the bridge builder between the military and political establishment,” said Ellie Geranmayeh, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “He had been at the forefront of recent negotiations aimed at finding a political breakthrough with Washington.” 

After Israel’s first attack on Iran in 2025, Larijani was chosen to his second term as Iran’s top security official. After Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated on February 28 by US and Israeli bombings, his role became more crucial. In an interview with Iranian state TV on March 1, the second day of the war, Larijani said he believed Israel, unable to dominate a hostile country of Iran’s size in a region where it lacks friends and allies, aimed to fragment and effectively dismantle the Islamic Republic. The US, he said, had become entangled in that plan.

Larijani was generally believed to have opposed Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment to succeed his deceased father as supreme leader on the grounds that hereditary leadership is incompatible with the ideals of the Islamic Republic. According to Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, Larijani served “primarily as a coordinator – collecting proposals from across the security bureaucracy, presenting options to the leadership council and implementing the decisions.” Larijani was at “the center of Iran’s strategic decision-making apparatus” in his capacity as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

Larijani, sanctioned by the US in January for his role in suppressing protests in Iran that began on December 28, was implicated in the deaths of over 6,000 civilians, according to Human Rights Activists News Agency. He was last publicly seen on March 13 during a state rally and was later named in a US State Department missive offering a reward for information on Iranian leaders. A close associate of Khamenei, Larijani headed Iran’s state TV, using his position to control dissent during a reformist government’s efforts for change. He later served as Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator and developed a reputation as a pragmatist, despite conflicts with hardline factions. His political influence fluctuated following the abandonment of the nuclear deal by Trump and subsequent barriers to his presidential candidacy.