TEHRAN, Iran — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Tuesday that Israeli airstrikes overnight killed Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, commander of the Basij paramilitary force, marking the highest-level assassinations of Iranian officials since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death last month. The claims, subsequently confirmed by Iranian state media, were reported by Reuters, BBC News, Associated Press, CBS News, Al-Monitor, and The National News. Each of the bullet points immediately below have been confirmed by at least four of the six respected sources we curated on this story.
- Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Pardis area northeast of Tehran
- Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, was also killed in the same strike
- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz publicly confirmed the targeted killings in a statement Tuesday morning
- Iranian state media later confirmed Larijani’s death, though they had initially published a handwritten note purportedly from him
- Larijani was one of Iran’s most senior leaders following Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death on February 28, which triggered the current state of war
- The Basij force under Soleimani’s command was responsible for leading the repression of anti-government protests in January
Additional Details Reported
Larijani was a former nuclear negotiator and close ally of the late Supreme Leader Khamenei. He was last seen publicly at the Quds Day rally in Tehran on Friday, March 13. The precision strike occurred at his daughter’s house in the Pardis residential area.
The killings represent the most significant targeted assassinations of Iranian leadership since the war began on February 28, when Khamenei was killed in an Israeli strike. The attacks come as the US-Israel war with Iran enters its third week, with tensions escalating across the region.
The Basij paramilitary force, which Soleimani commanded, is a wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for internal security and the suppression of dissent. The force played a central role in cracking down on nationwide anti-government protests that swept Iran in January.
Image Attribution
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