PARIS, France, March 17, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - When Israeli and US strikes killed 
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the Middle East war, Iran's security 
chief Ali Larijani became even more powerful than he had been for decades.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Larijani had been 
killed, though Iran's authorities have not confirmed his death.

Larijani had since the start of the war played a far more visible role than 
the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public 
since he was appointed to replace his slain father.

The security chief, on the other hand, was seen walking with crowds at a pro-
government rally last week in Tehran, in a sign of defiance against Israel 
and the US.

His killing, if confirmed, would be a major blow against the Islamic 
republic, undermining a key figure seen as capable of navigating both 
ideology and diplomacy.

- Pragmatist -

Adept at balancing ideological loyalty with pragmatic statecraft, Larijani 
was central prior to the war to Iran's nuclear policy and strategic 
diplomacy.

Bespectacled and known for his measured tone, the 68-year-old was believed to 
enjoy the confidence of the late Khamenei, after a long career in the 
military, media and legislature.

In 2025, after Iran's last war with Israel and the US, he was appointed head 
of Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council -- a 
position he had held nearly two decades earlier -- coordinating defence 
strategies and overseeing nuclear policy.

He later became increasingly visible in the diplomatic arena, travelling to 
Gulf states such as Oman and Qatar as Tehran cautiously engaged in nuclear 
negotiations that were ultimately scuppered by the war.

- 'Canny operator' -

"Larijani is a true insider, a canny operator, familiar with how the system 
operates," Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group's project director for 
Iran, said before the Middle East war began.

Born in Najaf, Iraq in 1957 to a prominent Shia cleric who was close to the 
Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Larijani's family has 
been influential within Iran's political system for decades.

Some of his relatives have been the targets of corruption allegations over 
the years, which they denied.

He earned a PhD in Western Philosophy from the University of Tehran.

A veteran of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the Iran-Iraq war, 
Larijani later headed state broadcasting IRIB for a decade from 1994 before 
serving as parliamentary speaker from 2008 to 2020.

In 1996, he was appointed as Khamenei's representative to the Supreme 
National Security Council (SNSC). He later became secretary of the SNSC and 
chief nuclear negotiator, leading talks with Britain, France, Germany and 
Russia between 2005 and 2007. 

He ran in the 2005 presidential elections, losing to populist candidate 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with whom he later had disagreements over nuclear 
diplomacy.

Larijani was then disqualified from running for president in both 2021 and 
2024.

Observers viewed his return as the head of the SNSC as signalling a turn 
reflecting his reputation as a conservative capable of combining ideological 
commitment with pragmatism.

Larijani supported the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers which 
unravelled three years later after US President Donald Trump withdrew from 
the agreement.

In March 2025, Larijani warned that sustained external pressure could alter 
Iran's nuclear posture.

"We are not moving towards (nuclear) weapons, but if you do something wrong 
in the Iranian nuclear issue, you will force Iran to move towards that 
because it has to defend itself," he told state television.

Larijani repeatedly insisted negotiations with Washington should remain 
confined to the nuclear file and defended uranium enrichment as Iran's 
sovereign right.

- Violent repression -

Larijani was among officials sanctioned by the US in January over what 
Washington described as "violently repressing the Iranian people", following 
nationwide protests which erupted weeks earlier due to the rising cost of 
living.

According to rights groups, thousands of people were killed in the 
government's brutal crackdown of the protests.

Larijani acknowledged that economic pressures had "led to the protests", but 
blamed the violence which ensued on foreign involvement by the United States 
and Israel.