Iran’s Security Chief Larijani and Basij commander Killed, Claims Israel

Israel has claimed two high profile assassinations of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, according to Israel’s Defence Minister Katz, and the commander of the internal Basij militia, Gholamreza Soleimani, neither of which Iran has commented on or confirmed. The Israeli military also claimed in a post on X Tuesday that it had killed Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of the Basij unit, the internal security paramilitary militia of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “Guided by precise intelligence from Military Intelligence, the Air Force conducted a targeted strike yesterday in the heart of Tehran, eliminating Gholam Reza Soleimani, commander of the Basij unit over the past six years,” it said. Iran has not confirmed this claim either. If confirmed, Larijani would be the highest level assassination in the war since United States-Israeli strikes killed the former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and several members of his family on the first day of the war they launched on February 28. Larijani was last seen publicly on Friday, attending the al-Quds day rally in support of Palestinians in Tehran, along with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian. Larijani has been a key political figure in the Iranian hierarchy for years, at one time leading the nation’s nuclear negotiations with the West. He was also previously the Iranian Speaker of the Parliament. Katz, Israel’s defence minister, said “the leaders of the regime are being killed and their capabilities terminated.” “Our army is working with strength to continue to hit and terminate the missile capabilities as well as the strategic infrastructure,” he wrote on social media.