NEW YORK, 18 March. - (ANA) - Israel killed Iran’s top security official as well as the head of its paramilitary force, Iranian state media confirmed Tuesday, in a major double blow to Tehran’s leadership.

 

Ali Larijani ran Iran’s national security council and was seen as the country’s de facto leader after the former ayatollah was assassinated.

 

Iran launched retaliatory attacks on Israel over the killing of Ali Larijani whose death, analysts said, narrowed the diplomatic pathways out of the Iran war.

 

Veteran Tehran politician Ali Larijani was seen by foreign diplomats as a potential conduit for negotiations; his death leaves the surviving leadership “largely in the hands of hardliners,” Bloomberg reported.

 

The killing came with the intensity of the war unabated: Israeli strikes hammered Tehran and Beirut, while Iran targeted military bases in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as the US embassy in Baghdad. Lebanese authorities say at least 886 people have been killed so far, including 111 children, and a million displaced.   - (ANA) - 

 

AB/ANA/18 March 2026  - - -