The deaths of Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, claimed in the last few hours by the IDF, further increase the already long list of recent excellent losses inflicted by Israel and the United States on Tehran’s political-military leaders.
Between the “12-day war” of June 2025 and the new military phase started just over two weeks ago, in fact, over 50 high-ranking figures linked to the theocracy of the ayatollahs, including the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, were already thought to be physically eliminated according to at least one official source.
Added to these killings is that by the USA, dating back to January 2020, of the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, then number one of the Quds, the elite forces of the Revolutionary Guards.
Here’s who I am:
* ALI KHAMENEI. Supreme Iranian leader since 1989, killed last February 28 in a joint Israeli-US air raid in Tehran. His position has now been taken over by his 56-year-old son Mojtaba Khamenei.
* ALI LARIJANI. Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, he was considered a loyalist of Ali Khamenei and defined as the “de facto leader” of Iran by Israel, which today announced his killing in a raid.
* GHOLAMREZA SOLEIMANI. For the last six years he has been at the top of the Basij, a paramilitary force of volunteers linked to the Pasdaran. According to the IDF, he too was killed in an air raid in the last few hours.
* MOHAMMAD PAKPOUR. He was commander of the Revolutionary Guards, leading the Pasdaran from the beginning of the 12-day war as a replacement for Hossein Salami, killed shortly before. His death was confirmed after the raids on February 28. Deputy Ahmad Vahidi was appointed in his place.
* ALI SHAMKHANI. He was considered a strongman of Tehran’s nuclear program, after having held in the past, like Larijani, the position of secretary of the Iranian Supreme Defense Council. Killed February 28, 2026.
* AZIZ NASIRZADEH. He became Tehran’s defense minister in 2024 and was in office when he was killed in the Israeli-US raids on February 28.
* ABDOLRAHIM MOUSAVI. First army commander who became chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces (a position previously usually entrusted to Pasdaran leaders), who also died in the first hours of the ongoing conflict.
* HOSSEIN SALAMI. Pasdaran commander killed on 13 June 2025 in Israeli raids aimed at hitting the Iranian defensive dome. In addition to him, other military leaders were also physically eliminated, such as the Army Chief of Staff, Mohammad Bagheri and Esmail Qaani, who led the Quds forces.
What’s really happening
Not all the deaths announced are currently confirmed by independent sources.
Many of the eliminations were claimed by the IDF, while Tehran did not receive official confirmation on several names, including that of Ali Larijani.
Furthermore, in the last few hours, a message attributed to Larijani himself has appeared on social media, an element that fuels doubts and hypotheses of information warfare or propaganda.
In this context, the picture remains extremely fluid: some killings are documented, others could be part of a communication strategy linked to the ongoing conflict.