Why Ali Larijani Died Defending the 'Reality' of Iran's Anti-American Protests

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Ali Larijani, Iran's secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and overseer of the Basij militia, was killed overnight in a targeted strike alongside Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani. The announcement came hours after the IDF confirmed Soleimani's death in central Tehran, with Larijani's reported killing marking another blow to Tehran's hardline enforcers amid escalating US-Israeli operations against the regime.

For context, this follows a brutal war that erupted last month when US and Israeli forces struck Iran's leadership, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28. Massive anti-regime protests then swept Iranian cities, with crowds chanting against the 'axis of evil' and US influence. Larijani, a veteran operator who reclaimed his security post last August, had been vocal in insisting that the million-strong rallies were genuine and not staged.

Ali Larijani Defends Reality of Protests

Larijani's last public act was a defiant post on X, shared just before Katz's announcement. He juxtaposed a 1979 quote from the Pahlavi regime's prime minister dismissing revolutionary crowds as 'tape recordings' with Donald Trump's recent scepticism about current anti-American gatherings in Tehran and beyond.

Katz didn't mince words in his ministry statement. 'I have just been updated by the Chief of Staff that Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and the head of the Basij Iran's central repression apparatus (Soleimani), were eliminated last night,' he said.

He escalated further, reportedly adding that '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.' Tehran has issued no confirmation, leaving the claim suspended in the tense limbo typical of such shadow killings.

Larijani was not a backroom figure. A former Revolutionary Guards member and parliament speaker until 2020, he returned to the security spotlight under President Masoud Pezeshkian following the June air war with Israel.

That conflict reshaped Iran's defences, and his return signalled Tehran's bid for continuity amid chaos. But his close ties to the Basij made him a prime target, as the militia permeates society through cells in schools, mosques and factories and is known for using force to uphold state control.

Basij's Bloody Legacy and Soleimani's Fall

Gholamreza Soleimani unrelated to the slain Quds Force legend had helmed the Basij since 2019, turning it into the regime's street-level hammer. The IDF's X post was clinical, 'In a precise strike in Tehran. IDF eliminates the commander of the Basij unit.

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.'

The Basij's record is grim. It led the crackdown on the 2019 fuel protests, killing hundreds, and repeated the playbook during the 2022 Mahsa Amini uprising.

Recent demonstrations, peaking in January after Khamenei's death, saw Basij forces authorised to use live fire, with estimates of up to 30,000 dead. Soleimani himself boasted after the crackdown that 'the nation is ready to resist the enemy. The Basij is prepared to create the greatest and most glorious defense.' Israel sees them as the regime's informant network and protest suppressors, making them a prime target.

Iran's silence speaks volumes. No state media rebuttal, no defiant funerals announced.

Larijani's post, with its Trump taunt, reads like a posthumous defiance, defending 'real' crowds that many Iranians see as coerced pageants. If Katz is correct, it is ironic that the man who vouched for the regime's reality checked out insisting on theirs while his enforcers' graves accumulate.

Trump's claims of a 'very much complete' war from last week ring hollow amid these losses. Tehran's next move remains uncertain. Unverified claims demand caution, and Katz's word is not evidence, but the pattern of high-level losses is clear.