Israel says Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani killed in overnight attack

ByKevin Shalvey, Jon Haworth, and Nadine El-Bawab

Last Updated: March 17, 2026, 9:48 AM MDT

The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, was killed in an overnight attack on Iran, along with the paramilitary leader Gholamreza Soleimani, the Israeli minister of defense said on Tuesday.

"Larijani and the Basij commander were eliminated last night and have joined Khamenei, the head of the annihilation program, along with all those eliminated from the axis of evil in the depths of hell," Israel Katz, the minister, said in a statement.

"The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to continue pursuing the leadership of the terror and oppression regime in Iran, and to repeatedly cut off the head of the octopus and prevent it from regrowing," he said.

Larijani was an influential representative of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"The IDF continues to operate in Iran with great intensity, targeting regime assets, suppressing missile-launch capabilities, and destroying key strategic infrastructure across all domains, setting Iran back decades," Katz said.

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian