https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15653075/iran-israel-drones-trump-tehran-lebanon-netanyahu-khamenei-live-updates.html
Iran has confirmed the death of security chief Ali Larijani hours after Israel announced he had been killed in an overnight strike.
The regime initially appeared to deny the report - by posting a handwritten note it claimed was written by the late official on his social media account.
Larijani, Iran’s feared national security chief, was thought by many to have been the de facto leader of the country and the architect of its terror.
Iran's confirmation of his death comes after it also announced the killing of Basij commander Gholamreza Soleiman.
Larijani
Iran's de facto leader has been killed in an Israeli strike.
Ali Larijani, one of Iran's most senior officials and a central figure in the country's security establishment, was killed in an overnight attack in Tehran – days after publicly mocking President Donald Trump.
He had been heading the Supreme National Security Council – Iran's highest security body – and, following the deaths of other senior figures, was widely viewed as the most powerful man in the regime.
He was the architect of the brutal crackdown on protesters in Iran earlier this year.
'He was effectively the leader, the one calling the shots,' an Israeli Military official said. 'He was the de facto leader of Iran, and we believe him to be eliminated in an Israeli Air Force strike last night. He was the one instructing attacks against all states. He was directing fire across the entire region.'
Last night Iranian authorities confirmed he was dead.
Larijani was last seen publicly on Friday in Tehran, appearing alongside senior officials at the Quds Day march. The annual event was established after the Iranian Revolution and reflects the Islamic Republic's long–standing opposition to Israel.
Ali Larijani, one of Iran's most senior officials and a central figure in the country's security establishment, was killed in an overnight attack in Tehran
His killing marks one of the most significant blows to Iran's leadership since the start of the conflict and leaves few senior figures in place after a series of targeted eliminations in recent weeks, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
His son Mojtaba, the new Supreme Leader, has not been seen since the start of the war, fuelling speculation that he may have been seriously injured in the strike that killed his father.
Iranian state media confirmed that Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the country's thuggish Basij force, had also been killed in airstrikes. The Basij is a volunteer militia which is often called out to suppress dissent.
Larijani is closely tied to the suppression of unrest in 2009 as well as the brutality that killed thousands of protesters this January – a campaign in which Soleimani also played a central role.
Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, said: 'Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the IDF to continue hunting down the leadership of the regime of terror and to repeatedly cut off the head of the octopus and not let it grow.'
Videos on social media showed jubilant Iranian dissidents. Gio Esfandiary told the Daily Mail: 'This is a significant moment, one that brings a sense of relief and hope for many Iranians after years of suffering. Now, we are witnessing, one by one, the removal of those whose hands were stained with blood. We are very thankful to Israel and President Trump.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15655849/Iran-security-chief-Israel-protesters-dead-Trump.html
After US and Israeli strikes killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war, the Islamic regime was still very much alive due to one formidable politician.
That man was Ali Larijani, Iran’s feared national security chief, thought by many to have been the de facto leader of the country and the architect of its terror.
Hours after the ayatollah was declared dead, he posted a chilling message on social media, swearing revenge.
'Today we will hit them with a force that they have never experienced before,' the top official said.
On Tuesday, Israel claimed its military assassinated Larijani in a secretive operation, effectively eliminating a pivotal figure at the heart of the dictatorship who insiders claim was preparing to consolidate power amid the Middle East crisis.
According to Israeli media, the killing of Larijani was initially scheduled for Sunday night, but was postponed at the last minute.
It wasn't until Monday afternoon that authorities received the vital intelligence that he would travel to one of his hideout apartments near Tehran alongside his son, as opposed to his normal residence.
On Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's command, precise strikes were launched and the mission was soon complete, with one Israeli security source confidently telling Channel 12 in the aftermath: 'There is no way he survived this attack.'
Israel released an image of Benjamin Netanyahu ordering the assassination of the Iranian figures
The assassination of Larijani was facilitated due to valuable intelligence that Israeli officials received from residents of Tehran 'over the past 24 hours,' an Israeli official told Iran International.
'In recent days, Larijani had behaved arrogantly, appearing frequently in public (including at Quds Day rallies), engaging with both local and international media, and thereby exposing himself to public view, which ultimately led to his identification,' the official said.
The official added that the country's intelligence services continue to receive several reports that 'precisely guide them to the locations of Basij and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps checkpoints, significantly aiding their efforts'.
Following the announcement of Larijani's death, the Israeli Prime Minister's X account published a photograph of Netanyahu on the phone, 'ordering the elimination of senior Iranian regime officials'.
'The IDF announces that overnight, March 17, 2026, the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, and through the integration of unique operational capabilities, conducted a precise strike that eliminated Ali Larijani, the Secretary of Iranian Supreme National Security Council, who operated as the de facto leader of the Iranian terror regime,' an IDF statement said.
Iranian state media generated anticipation by suggesting the claims were false, and promised to publish a statement by Larijani, but all that emerged was a handwritten note commemorating Iranian 'martyrs', that was most likely penned before his assassination.
As well as eliminating Larijani - the highest profile figure killed since Ali Khamenei -Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said a separate strike killed the Basij paramilitary force commander, Gholamreza Soleimani.
'Larijani and the Basij commander were eliminated overnight and joined the head of the annihilation programme, Khamenei, and all the eliminated members of the axis of evil, in the depths of hell,' Katz announced on Tuesday.
'The regime's leaders are being killed and their capabilities are being neutralised,' he said in a televised statement.
'Our military is making every effort to continue to strike and neutralise Iran's missile capabilities, as well as its strategic infrastructure,' he added.
The twin deaths are evidence of the deep grip Israel has on the machinations of the Islamic regime's top brass, with intelligence penetrating their every movement as the US dominates from the skies above.
Larijani's death in particular will no doubt be a devastating blow to Iran, as a figure central to both its war machine and lethal suppression, who moved swiftly between the religious establishment and matters of foreign diplomacy.
Only last week did he defiantly appear on Iranian state television, warning Donald Trump to 'take care not to be eliminated' before taunting the US President for his 'grave miscalculation'.
Marching through the streets of Tehran, in an attempted display of bravado, the military overlord dismissed the Israeli-US attacks on the capital as being 'out of desperation'.
'These attacks are out of fear, out of desperation. One who is strong wouldn't bomb demonstrations at all. It's clear that it has failed,' Larijani declared at the Quds Day march.
The 67-year-old was at the time one of the most powerful figures in the Iranian establishment - masterminding the country's defence while distilling fear among the civilian population - and it's unclear who, if anyone, has the ability to replace him.
Larijani last week warned Donald Trump to 'take care not to be eliminated' before taunting the US President for his 'grave miscalculation'
While Larijani filmed himself walking defiantly among crowds of people on Friday, Iran's new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is yet to make a public appearance since his appointment.
Rumours are swirling that the hardline cleric was flown to Moscow for treatment of serious injuries following an airstrike, and may even be dead.
While his father was the country's constitutional commander-in-chief and religious authority, it is largely agreed upon that true power lay at the hands of Larijani.
A former parliamentary speaker and commander in the IRGC, he was responsible for the mass slaughter of civilian protestors earlier this year, with some reports indicating 30,000 citizens were killed in the bloodshed.
The 67-year-old was one of the first Iranian officials to demand that violence crush the dissenters calling for an end to clerical rule.
While he would never have succeeded Khamenei as supreme leader - such a role is reserved for a cleric and Khamenei left a shortlist of three - Larijani was hoping to consolidate power following the ayatollah's death.
He was appointed chief of the National Security Council in August, following the 12-day war with Israel that left Iran's military badly wounded, and has been the country's de facto leader ever since, sidelining the official president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
He was given responsibility for negotiations with the West in the weeks before the war started and on March 1 said he would be heading an interim committee for running the country.
Born in Najaf, Iraq in 1957 to a prominent Shia cleric who was close to the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Larijani's family has been influential within Iran's political system for decades.
A veteran of the IRGC during the Iran-Iraq war, Larijani later headed state broadcasting IRIB for a decade from 1994 before serving as parliamentary speaker from 2008 to 2020.
In 1996, he was appointed as Khamenei's representative to the Supreme National Security Council.
Larijani ran in the 2005 presidential elections, losing to populist candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with whom he later had disagreements over nuclear diplomacy. Larijani was then disqualified from running for president in both 2021 and 2024.
Most recently, he was appointed as Khamenei’s personal envoy to Vladimir Putin, and met the Russian President in Moscow. He also appeared on Al Jazeera to declare that Tehran had learnt the lessons of last year’s conflict with Israel and would fight back with force this time around.
'Larijani is a true insider, a canny operator, familiar with how the system operates,' Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group's project director for Iran, said before the Middle East war began.
The IDF also confirmed it had assassinated the head of the IRGC Basij paramilitary militia, Soleimani, who ordered the slaughter of thousands of anti-government protesters in January.
He and his deputy, Seyyed Karishi, were killed in a makeshift tent area, which had been set up to make it harder to follow them as opposed to in a known headquarters.
The military also announced that it killed the IRGC's Aerospace Force chief.
'In a precise strike in Tehran: The IDF eliminated the Commander of the Basij Unit,' the Israeli military said.
'Yesterday (Monday), the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, targeted and eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, who operated as commander of the Basij unit for the past six years,' it added.
The Basij, a volunteer force under Iran's Revolutionary Guards, 'led the main repression operations' by the authorities during recent mass protests in Iran, the Israeli army said.
The Iranian leaders wiped out by US and Israeli strikes
