The Israeli military has killed Iran’s powerful security chief, Ali Larijani, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed this morning.
Ali Larijani, center, participates in the Quds Day rally in Tehran on Friday. Supreme National Security Council / ZUMA Press via Alamy
Iran offered no immediate response to the claim, and it was not immediately clear what Israel was basing its assessment on.
Israel will update Trump later today that the “high rate of turnover” in Iran’s leadership is “continuing and even accelerating following the elimination of two of the most senior remaining figures,” Katz said.
Larijani would be the highest-ranking Iranian official to be killed after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death at the very start of the war.
Larijani was an influential figure in Iran’s leadership who was viewed by some as a de facto ruler in the wake of Khamenei’s death, and with the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei making no public appearances.