Who is Ali Larijani?

2026-03-17 - 10:37

Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that senior Iranian regime official Ali Larijani was killed in IDF strikes across the Islamic Republic during the overnight hours between Monday and Tuesday, along with other senior figures at the top of the regime. Iranian state media denied the reports and circulated a letter purportedly written in Larijani's name. Larijani had served as head of Iran's National Security Council and was described by The New York Times as Iran's de facto leader following the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Reports that the senior Iranian official had been among the assassination targets in Tehran overnight came after IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Eyal Zamir announced that during the strikes on Tehran, "senior Palestinian operatives who had been hiding in safe houses were eliminated." A senior Israeli official said, "There is no chance he survived this strike." Ali Larijani in Lebanon (Photo: AP) "Among other things, senior figures involved in terrorist activity from Gaza and from Judea and Samaria, who had been hiding in a safe house, were eliminated in Tehran. The campaign against Hezbollah and the removal of threats from northern communities continues to be a central front of activity. We are continuing to concentrate forces and expand the ground operation." Larijani was born in 1957 in the city of Najaf, the son of a Shiite clerical family that later relocated to Qom. There, he studied computer science. In the 1970s, he married into the family of Ruhollah Khomeini, who would go on to become the founder of the Islamic Republic – a connection that helped advance his career. Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Larijani formally joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and rose through the command ranks during the Iran-Iraq War. He served, among other roles, as chief of staff of the Revolutionary Guards and as chairman of the regime's state broadcasting corporation. He was later appointed a member of the National Security Council and as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's representative on that body in the 1990s. In 2005, he was appointed secretary of the National Security Council, a post he held until his resignation following a dispute with then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the management of the nuclear program. In 2008, Larijani was appointed speaker of parliament, a role he held until 2019. In parallel, he oversaw the judiciary. The senior Iranian official also attempted to run in the presidential elections but was disqualified by the regime's vetting committee.