'Criminals Must Pay': Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei On Ali Larijani's Killing

Last Updated:March 18, 2026, 23:04 IST

Mojtaba Khamenei called Ali Larijani an "intelligent, committed individual" and said "criminal murderers of the martyrs must soon pay" after the latter's death.

Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a statement on Wednesday, nearly a day after his government confirmed the killing of national security chief Ali Larijani in an Iranian strike, warning that “criminal murderers" must pay.

In a statement carried by Iranian state media, Khamenei said he received news of Larijani’s death with “great regret" and called him an “intelligent, committed individual" and a distinguished figure in Iran’s political establishment.

“The assassination of such a figure undoubtedly shows the extent of his importance and the hatred of the enemies of Islam towards him," he added. “The anti-Islamists should know that shedding this blood at the foot of the tree of the Islamic system only makes it stronger, and of course, every blood has a price that the criminal murderers of the martyrs must soon pay."

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On late Tuesday, Iran confirmed the death of its security chief, Ali Larijani, in an overnight Israeli strike, after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the IRGC’s Basij force, had been eliminated.

“The pure souls of the martyrs embraced the purified soul of God’s righteous servant, Martyr Dr. Ali Larijani," Iran’s state media read a statement from the council. “After a lifetime of struggle for the advancement of Iran and of the Islamic Revolution, he ultimately attained his long-held aspiration, answered the divine call, and honourably achieved the sweet grace of martyrdom in the trench of service," it added.

Larijani was killed along with his son, Morteza Larijani, and the head of his office, Alireza Bayat, as well as several bodyguards. The 67-year-old security chief has long been described as a key pillar in Iran’s ruling system and a close aide of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

ALSO READ: Khamenei’s Death Didn’t End Iran War, But Larijani’s Killing May Extend It. Here’s Why

Thousands thronged to the funeral processions on Wednesday as Larijani’s body and his son, also killed in an Israeli strike, paraded past on a bed of a semitruck adorned with images of the dead. People waved Iranian flags at the funeral.

Iran has increasingly turned toward large, pro-government events in the war as Israeli airstrikes continue to kill the theocracy’s top leaders, including the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, when the war began on February 28.

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