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Ali Larijani, Iran's National Security chief, killed in Israeli strike, Tehran confirms
The confirmation on Larijani's death came after Israel said it killed the National Security chief, the most senior figure after Khamenei in the ongoing war.
Iran has confirmed the death of Ali Larijani, one of Tehran's most prominent figures in the ongoing war against the US and Israel and close confidant of slain leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Mojtaba, Iranian media said on Tuesday.
The confirmation comes hours after Israel said it eliminated two of the top Iranian security official, including Larijani, in an Israeli strike aimed at weakening the Iranian leadership amid the ongoing conflict, in its third week.
Iran's Fars news agency said he was targeted by “American and Zionist regime fighter jets” while he was at his daughter’s house in the Pardis district east of Tehran. Israel said it had “eliminated” Larijani in an overnight raid that also killed Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the commander of the country’s paramilitary Basij unit.
The Iranian confirmation followed fresh salvos of missiles and drones at Gulf neighbors and Israel.
Also Read: Ali Larijani: Iran power player who rose then fell on winds of war
Larijani, 67, was considered one of the most powerful figures in Iran since Khamenei's death. He was seen a key figure in the Tehran's battle for survival and the right-hand man of Khamenei, who was killed in Israeli attack on February 28.
Ever since Khameini's death, Larijani played a far more visible role than the new supreme leader, Mojtaba, who has not been seen in public since he replaced his slain father.
A Revolutionary Guards commander during the Iran-Iraq war, Larijani was seen as canny and pragmatic, a fiercely determined leader that upheld the country's theocratic government.
Iran confirms Gholam Reza Soleimani's death
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Larijani, along with Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Basij force, were “eliminated" on Tuesday night.
Earlier in the day, an Iranian news agency, Mizan, quoting the Revolutionary Guard confirmed Soleimani's killing. The two leaders were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the regime's 47-year rule.
Larijani, a former parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, advised the late Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January for his role “coordinating” Iran’s violent suppression of nationwide protests.
Soleimani was also sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and other nations, over his role in suppressing dissent for years through the Basij.
