Ali Larijani, Iran's security chief and the man viewed as de facto leader of the country in wartime, was killed by an Israeli strike on Tuesday.
The Supreme National Security Council confirmed his death in a statement late on Tuesday. It stated that “after a lifetime of striving for the elevation of Iran and the Islamic Revolution, [Mr Larijani] finally reached his long-cherished wish” in dying in the service of his country.
Who was Ali Larijani?
A close aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mr Larijani was entrusted with keeping the wheels of Iran's government moving after the former supreme leader's assassination.
But two weeks later, Mr Larijani – who had taken a defiant stance against the US and Israel – was himself killed in what the Israeli military said was a “precise attack”.
A member of a political dynasty called the “Kennedys of Iran”, Mr Larijani was one of five brothers who held prominent positions in the country. While Ali Larijani was born in Iraq, the family name originates from Larijan, Iran.
Israeli news outlet Haaretz described him as a “brilliant philosopher” who has written books on German philosopher Emmanuel Kant. He initially studied science but turned to philosophy for a postgraduate degree.
Mr Larijani became an adviser to Mr Khamenei before the supreme leader was killed in an Israeli strike on February 28, the first day of the war on Iran.
During his political career, Mr Larijani seemed to have done it all – from senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to culture minister and eventually Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, appointed by President Masoud Pezeshkian last year. The appointment came during a government reshuffle after Israel's 12-day war with Iran last June.
In this position, he took charge of nuclear talks – a task that eventually proved fruitless despite several rounds of negotiations and a diplomatic push that took him around the region, including the Gulf. His last trips abroad were in Oman and the UAE before the US and Israel bombed Iran.
Maligned in Washington, he was sanctioned by the US for what it saw as his role in a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Although he reached a position seen as one of the highest in Iran's government, Mr Larijani had set his sights on the greater ambition of becoming Iran's president earlier in his career. In 2005, he ran against president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but lost.
Three years later, he became speaker of the Iranian parliament, serving from 2008 to 2020.
Mr Larijani handled major issues including security and Iran's nuclear programme. As war clouds gathered this year, he was seen as a figure of continuity who would follow Mr Khamenei's instructions if the supreme leader was killed.
Once Israel saw to that, and with new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei nowhere to be seen in public, Mr Larijani became the face of the Iranian regime, posting sometimes cryptic messages on social media aimed at US President Donald Trump.
That appeared to continue after his death. After Israel's announcement that it had killed Mr Larijani, his account posted a handwritten message on X, standing in solidarity with Iran's martyrs.
