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Israel announced on Tuesday that it had killed Iran’s national security chief, Ali Larijani, in a targeted strike.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Larijani as a key figure in the Iranian government, calling him “the boss of the Revolutionary Guards, which is the gang of gangsters that actually runs Iran.”
“Alongside him, we also eliminated the commander of the Basij—the henchmen of the gangsters, who spread terror in the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities against the population,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement.
“We’re operating there too; operating from the air with Air Force planes, with drones.”
Netanyahu noted that the overthrow of Iran’s authorities by the people “will not happen all at once, it will not happen easily. But if we persist in this — we will give them a chance to take their fate into their own hands.”
הבוקר חיסלנו את עלי לאריג’אני. עלי לאריג’אני זה הבוס של משמרות המהפכה, שזה חבורת הגנגסטרים שמנהלת בפועל את איראן. אנחנו חיסלנו לצידו גם את מפקד הבסיג’ – זה העוזרים של הגנגסטרים, שהם מפיצים טרור ברחובות טהרן וערים אחרות של איראן נגד האוכלוסייה. גם שם אנחנו פועלים; פועלים מהאוויר… pic.twitter.com/bOwQgRZ6Ti
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 17, 2026
The Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, confirmed that Larijani was “eliminated last night”, although the claim has not been independently verified by Iranian authorities.
Larijani, 68, was regarded as a central figure in Iran’s strategic and defence policies and a close aide to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
An AFP reporter had earlier on Tuesday reported blasts in Tehran, and the reported assassination comes as strikes shook countries across the Middle East from the Gulf to Iraq and Lebanon.
Iranian authorities called on people to rally nationwide on Tuesday to defy enemy “plots” on a night usually marked by Persian New Year celebrations.
Meanwhile, Joseph Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), resigned on Tuesday in protest against the ongoing US-Israeli war with Iran, saying the Islamic Republic posed “no imminent threat” to the United States.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent wrote in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump.
He added that the conflict was “started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
