Ali Larijani, a senior conservative within Iran’s theocracy and the country’s Supreme National Security Council secretary, was killed in an Israeli strike, Iranian officials confirmed. He was 67.
Iran’s state institutions and outside observers had widely seen Larijani as a key power broker and, after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in strikes last month, as effectively running the country amid a widening conflict. Israel announced it had killed Larijani early Tuesday; Iran confirmed his death several hours later. The Supreme National Security Council said Larijani’s son, Morteza Larijani, was also killed.
Larijani had been a close adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on strategy, including during nuclear talks with the Trump administration, and had traveled to Oman to meet mediators about two weeks before the war began. He had long been subject to heavy U.S. sanctions and was implicated in the violent suppression of mass protests in January.
Though not a Shiite cleric and therefore ineligible to become supreme leader, Larijani was widely expected to remain a top adviser; many believed he was effectively leading Iran as other senior figures were driven underground by U.S. and Israeli strikes.
Born into one of Iran’s most prominent political families—often likened in media to the U.S. Kennedys—Larijani’s brothers held powerful posts: Sadeq Larijani led the judiciary and Mohammad Javad Larijani was a senior diplomat and adviser to the late Khamenei. Over decades, Ali Larijani moved toward harder-line positions. In the 1990s he served as culture minister, enforcing tighter censorship. He was speaker of parliament from 2008 to 2020 and most recently headed the Supreme National Security Council.
Larijani also pursued intellectual work, authoring at least six philosophy books, including three on the thought of Immanuel Kant. In public exchanges during the crisis, he responded sharply to threats from U.S. leaders; after a U.S. president warned of a severe response if Iran disrupted oil flows, Larijani posted on X that “the sacrificial nation of Iran doesn’t fear your empty threats,” warning opponents to “be careful not to get eliminated yourself.”
