Israel says Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani has been killed in strike
Advertise Here
Israel says Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani has been killed in strike
BBC-March17th2026
Edited by Jamie Whitehead and Ben Hatton, with Frank Gardner in Riyadh, Barbara Plett Usher in Doha, Yolande Knell in Jerusalem, Azadeh Moshiri in Dubai and reporting from BBC Persian
Summary
-
Israel’s defence minister says its military has killed Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani in a strike – read more about him
-
Larijani was last seen in public at a Quds Day march in Tehran on Friday. Iran has not confirmed whether he has been killed or injured
-
Drones and rockets were launched at the US embassy in Iraq’s capital Baghdad overnight, in the second such attack of the war – BBC Verify examines videos of interceptions
-
The UAE’s defence ministry says it is intercepting drones and missiles from Iran, with Qatar saying it has also been targeted by missiles
-
One Iranian tells BBC Persian the war is “really destroying my nerves”, while Tehran’s Ministry of Intelligence says it has confiscated “hundreds of Starlink devices”, which are used by some Iranians to access the internet
-
In the US, a top counterterrorism official resigns over the ongoing conflict, saying “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation”
WE DON’T NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!’: Trump criticises Nato allies
More now from Trump, who says in a lengthy post on Truth Social that “most” Nato allies have said “they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation” against Iran.
Trump says he is “not surprised by their action” and that he has always considered Nato “to be a one-way street”.
He says: “Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea.
“In fact, speaking as President of the United States of America, by far the Most Powerful Country Anywhere in the World, WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!”
The post comes after Trump requested the help of Nato allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz – which he does not specifically mention in his post.
Netanyahu says Israel is trying to give Iranians ‘an opportunity to remove’
Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is weakening the Iranian regime “in the hope of giving the Iranian people an opportunity to remove it”, during a video address in which he says central regime figure Ali Larijani is dead.
“It will not happen all at once, and it will not happen easily. But if we persist, we will give them the chance to take their destiny into their own hands,” the Israeli prime minister says.
He describes Larijani as the head “of a gang of gangsters that runs Iran”.
Earlier, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said “Iranians are safer” without Larijani and Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani, who Israel also said it had killed. Defence minister Israel Katz said the IDF had been instructed “to continue hunting down the leadership” of Iran.
Iran has not confirmed whether Larijani has been killed or injured.
Read more on original:
Trump’s FCC Chair Threatens to Pull Broadcast Licenses Over Negative Iran War Coverage 
Three Narratives of a Political Downfall in Contemporary Iranian History: Tudeh, Mojahed, Pahlavi 
Iranian Women and the Enduring Struggle for Gender Justice 
Iran war live: Iran’s FM says Strait of Hormuz ‘closed to our enemies’ 
Trump urges UK and other nations to send ships to help secure Strait of Hormuz after Iranian attacks