Israel claims killing of senior Iranian official Ali Larijani

TEHRAN (MNTV) – Israel has claimed to have killed Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in a targeted strike.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both announced the killing, though Iran has neither confirmed nor denied the claim.

Iranian state media complicated the picture by publishing a handwritten note attributed to Larijani — posted to his social media pages — commemorating 84 Iranian sailors killed in a U.S. naval strike.

Whether the note was intended to signal he was still alive remained unclear.

Larijani was last seen publicly on Friday at a Tehran rally marking Al-Quds Day, appearing alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian. Just a day before the alleged strike, he had addressed Muslim-majority nations in a message urging Islamic solidarity against what he called “treacherous aggression” by the U.S. and Israel.

He warned Gulf states that there was no middle ground in the conflict, asking pointedly: “Which side are you on?”

If confirmed, his death would mark the most significant killing in the ongoing war since U.S.-Israeli strikes eliminated former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the conflict, February 28.

Larijani is a towering figure in Iranian politics.

He previously led Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the West and served as speaker of parliament, making him one of the most experienced and influential figures in the Islamic Republic’s hierarchy.

Netanyahu framed the alleged killing as part of a broader effort to pressure Iranians to overthrow their government, stating the process “will not happen all at once” but that persistence would give Iranians a chance to “take their fate into their own hands.”

Analysts cautioned, however, that even if confirmed, the killing was unlikely to trigger regime collapse.