Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel had assassinated Iran's Supreme National Security Council head, Ali Larijani, and Basij paramilitary force head Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani in a strike, NBC reported on March 17. Iran has not confirmed the deaths, and Larijani's X account posted a handwritten note extolling slain Iranian sailors not long after Israel's announcement.

Larijani has long been a major political operator in the Islamic Republic, having served as a chief advisor to late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and once considered a frontrunner for succession before Khamenei's assassination. Though himself a hard-liner, Larijani showed pragmatism during periods of nuclear negotiations in the 2010s with the United States, though he backed the development of nuclear weapons should the United States attack starting in 2025.