03/17/2026March 17, 2026Killing of Ali Larijani could deepen Iran’s political uncertainty, researcher says

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that top Iranian security official Ali Larijani was killed in an overnight strike. Iran has not confirmed Larijani’s death. 

DW asked Kamran Matin, Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex, how the killing, if confirmed, would influence Iran’s ability to keep fighting.

“I don’t think it has an impact or immediate impact on the military side of Iranian operation because Iran has activated what it describes as a mosaic strategy whereby command and control are decentralized and distributed among a 30 odd centres where the military commanders have some level of autonomy,” Matin said.

He added that the significance of Larijani’s death “really lies in the political terms,” because of “his presence in the Islamic Republic.”

“He has been one of the really most influential figures within Islamic Republic, occupying some of the highest offices in the Republic,” Matin said. 

He added Larijani potentially could have “navigated” a post-war “leadership crisis in Iran by bringing the consensus among very different factions who otherwise might have clashed in terms of their perspective and view on how to Iran has to proceed after this war ended.”

Matin also said that inside Iran, those who oppose the Islamic Republic would be happy he was killed.

“Not least because reports which were published in social media at least suggest that Ali Larijani was the person who led, designed and led actually the crackdown on protesters back in January, in which thousands, by some accounts more than 20,000 protesters were killed,” the researcher said.