Israeli Minister of the Ministry of National Defense Israel Katz said on the 17th (local time) that Ali Larijani, the de facto head of Iran's security and secretary-general of the Supreme National Security Council, was killed in an Israeli military targeted airstrike.
Minister Katz said in a statement that "Larijani was eliminated in an Israeli airstrike last night." The Ministry of National Defense said Katz noted at a battlefield assessment meeting that morning, "Larijani and the Basij militia commander were eliminated overnight and have departed to the abyss of hell where all members of the 'axis of evil' already eliminated, including Khamenei, are."
Earlier, local media reported that the Israeli military had carried out a targeted airstrike aimed at Larijani. Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir also said at a battlefield assessment meeting that morning, "Through last night's operation, a significant elimination record was achieved that could affect the outcome of this war and the Israel Defense Forces' mission."
The Israeli military also said it eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, the overall commander of the Basij militia, in the previous day's airstrike. The Israeli military said, "The Basij militia is the armed apparatus of Iran's terror regime," adding, "Under Soleimani's command, the Basij militia carried out operations to bloodily suppress protests inside Iran and committed harsh violence and indiscriminate arrests against citizens."
Iranian authorities have not yet confirmed whether Larijani is dead. Iranian local media published a photo of his handwritten memo mourning the fallen crew members of the Iranian escort ship Denaho, which sank after a U.S. attack in Sri Lankan territorial waters on the 4th of this month. Local media said Secretary-General Larijani wrote the memo on the 16th, a day before the crew members' funeral that day.
If the Israeli side's claim is true, Iran has lost key figures in its wartime leadership in succession, following the death in an explosion of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the 28th of last month. After Khamenei's death, Iran formed a temporary leadership committee, but the person who in practice oversaw national security and external negotiations and propped up the regime was Larijani, the secretary-general of the Supreme National Security Council.
The Basij militia led by Soleimani, who was mentioned as having been eliminated along with Larijani, is a subordinate organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and is widely embedded throughout Iranian society, known as the "regime's tentacles." It is a quasi-public authority that not only suppresses protests and collects and monitors internal information but also plays the role of religious police, and in wartime it performs reserve duties assisting the Revolutionary Guard.