{"id":2580671,"date":"2026-03-17T06:58:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/idf-claims-it-killed-top-iranian-official-ali-larijani-and-basij-commander-in-latest-strikes\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T07:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T11:00:16","slug":"idf-claims-it-killed-top-iranian-official-ali-larijani-and-basij-commander-in-latest-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/idf-claims-it-killed-top-iranian-official-ali-larijani-and-basij-commander-in-latest-strikes\/","title":{"rendered":"IDF claims it killed top Iranian official Ali Larijani and Basij commander in latest strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fidf-claims-it-killed-top-iranian-official-ali-larijani-and-basij-commander-in-latest-strikes%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2580671&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Washington Examiner reports that the Israel Defence Forces claimed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-israel-eliminates-terror-tunnel-163-football-fields-long-kills-top-pij-terror-commander\/\" title=\"WATCH: Israel Eliminates Terror Tunnel 163 Football Fields Long, Kills Top PIJ Terror ...\">overnight airstrikes<\/a> killed two Iranian officials-Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran\u2019s National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij militia. The strikes are described as part of a broader U.S.-Israel operation that began on February 28. The story notes that Iran\u2019s leadership has been targeted in the campaign, including claims that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day and that his son Motjaba was named successor but has not appeared sence; Iranian authorities and media have questioned or disputed these reports. It highlights Larijani\u2019s sanctions for his role in crackdowns on protests and portrays Soleimani as a key figure in Iran\u2019s internal repression, killed at a Basij tent after being targeted. The article also emphasizes the U.S. bounty on Iranian regime leaders-up to $10 million-and references the IDF\u2019s use of the term \u201celiminated\u201d to describe such operations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">IDF claims it killed top Iranian official Ali Larijani and Basij commander in latest strikes<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2534214\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/idf\/\">Israel Defense Forces<\/a> claimed it killed two Iranian officials, secretary of Iran&rsquo;s National Security Council Ali Larijani and commander of the IRGC&rsquo;s Basij unit Gholamreza Soleimani, in overnight airstrikes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Their deaths mark the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/two-democrat-senators-join-republicans-in-calling-for-u-s-to-increase-domestic-oil-production\/\" title=\"Two Democrat Senators Join Republicans In Calling For U.S. To Increase Domestic Oil Production\">latest members<\/a> of Iran&rsquo;s leadership killed since the U.S.-Israel joint military operation began on Feb. 28. Iran&rsquo;s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed during the first day of the strikes. His son, Motjaba Khamenei, was named his successor, but he is suspected to have also been injured in military strikes, as he has not been seen since being named Iran&rsquo;s supreme leader.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/4493309\/iran-war-where-things-stand-third-week\/\">Where things stand with Iran war in its third week<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4493193\/viktor-orban-uphill-battle-hold-leadership\/\">Viktor Orban faces uphill battle to hold leadership as opposition hits him on Russia ties and accusations of corruption<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4493753\/afghanistan-civilians-killed-pakistan-bombing-rehab\/\">Afghanistan claims over 400 civilians killed in Pakistani bombing of drug rehab center<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4491652\/iran-finance-death-blow-war\/\">IRAN FACES FINANCIAL DEATH BLOW BECAUSE OF WAR<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Larijani&rsquo;s death was <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/liveblog-march-17-2026\/\">reported<\/a> by the <em>Times of Israel <\/em>also early Tuesday morning. The Iranian officials were targeted in separate airstrikes, according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Larijani and the Basij commander were eliminated overnight and joined the head of the annihilation program, Khamenei, and all the eliminated members of the axis of evil, in the depths of hell,&rdquo; Katz&rsquo;s office told the <em>Times of Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Though Iranian media suggested an incoming message would disprove his death, Iranian officials released a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/liveblog_entry\/iran-issues-larijani-statement-a-handwritten-note-for-sailors-funeral-that-does-not-disprove-his-death\/\">statement from Larijani <\/a>dated March 4 on Tuesday morning. <\/p>\n<p>Larijani held a prominent place in Iranian leadership and was considered former Ayatollah Ali Khamenei&rsquo;s main confidant and &ldquo;right-hand man.&rdquo; He was appointed to advise Khamenei during nuclear negotiations with the United States prior to the Supreme Leader&rsquo;s death. In January, Larijani was sanctioned for his role in the violent crack down on protesters. The regime has been accused of killing thousands of protesters and detaining tens of thousands more during the uprising.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the U.S. included him in a list of top <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4491501\/state-department-10-million-bounty-iran-leaders\/\">Iranian officials with bounties<\/a> on their heads. <\/p>\n<p>The regime&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >top national security officials<\/a> had been indignant since the beginning of the joint U.S.-Israeli operation against the country. Last week, he issued an <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4486353\/iranian-national-security-chief-threatens-trump-be-careful-get-eliminated-yourself\/\">threat against President Donald Trump<\/a>, warning him: &ldquo;Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4491501\/state-department-10-million-bounty-iran-leaders\/\">STATE DEPARTMENT OFFERS $10 MILLION BOUNTY FOR IRAN REGIME LEADERS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The IDF regularly uses the term &ldquo;eliminated&rdquo; when announcing a successful targeted operation against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/un-calls-on-putin-regime-to-release-navalny-supporters\/\" title=\"UN calls on Putin regime to release Navalny &amp; supporters\">regime officials<\/a>. They did so when they announced Soleimani&rsquo;s death Tuesday morning. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#128308; COMMANDER OF THE BASIJ UNIT ELIMINATED<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, the IDF targeted &amp; eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, who operated as commander of the Basij unit for the past 6 years.<\/p>\n<p>Under Soleimani, the Basij unit led the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/where-things-stand-with-iran-war-in-its-third-week\/\" title=\"Where things stand with ... in its third week\">main repression operations<\/a> in Iran, employing severe violence,&hellip; <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aJ0dNtCFz0\">pic.twitter.com\/aJ0dNtCFz0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IDF\/status\/2033827283341824256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Yesterday, the IDF targeted &amp; eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, who operated as commander of the Basij unit for the past 6 years,&rdquo; <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/idf\/status\/2033827283341824256?s=46\">read<\/a> the announcement. &ldquo;Under Soleimani, the Basij unit led the main repression operations in Iran, employing severe violence, widespread arrests, and the use of force against civilian demonstrators.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He was one in charge of the Iranian regime&rsquo;s &ldquo;primary instrument of repression,&rdquo; according to the IDF, and played a significant role in the brutal treatment of Iranian demonstrators during the protests in Iran in December and January. He was killed in a strike on a Basij combat tent, where he was stationed with other Basij commanders. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IDF says it killed Ali Larijani and Basij commander<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2580672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Ali-Larijani.webp?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[75945,75683,26585,3823,73970],"class_list":["post-2580671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-alilarijani","tag-basij","tag-idf","tag-iran","tag-military-strikes-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Ali-Larijani.webp?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2580671"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2580675,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580671\/revisions\/2580675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2580672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2580671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2580671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2580671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}