Following extensive Israeli strikes on Iranian territory on March 16, Iranian media channels are broadcasting claims attributed to the Israeli Defense Minister that prominent political figure Ali Larijani and the chief of the Basij forces were killed overnight.
In the aftermath of extensive Israeli military strikes on Iranian territory on the night of March 16, reports are circulating regarding the deaths of senior Iranian political and military figures. According to a statement attributed to Israel Katz, the Israeli Defense Minister, Ali Larijani and the commander-in-chief of the Basij forces were killed during the overnight operations.
The claim was widely broadcast by خبرفوری ࡆ اخبارفوری مذاکره ࡆ جنگ فوری (Breaking News | Negotiation & War News), an Iranian Telegram channel whose editorial framing strongly aligns with Iranian state media directives. Preserving the adversarial posture customary in Iranian reporting, the channel stated that Katz, the Israeli Minister of War, announced that Ali Larijani and the commander-in-chief of the Basij were killed last night. The report garnered over 21,000 views and was subsequently circulated by an aligned secondary Iranian breaking news channel.
These high-profile assassination claims coincide with a severe escalation in regional hostilities. On March 16, the Israel Defense Forces launched coordinated strikes against over 200 military targets in Iran, including air defense systems and fuel depots in Tehran. The strikes occurred simultaneously with limited IDF ground operations in southern Lebanon and US Central Command's destruction of targets on Iran's Kharg Island under Operation Epic Wrath. In response, Iran launched hundreds of retaliatory strikes, deploying cluster munitions against Tel Aviv and targeting US regional assets.
The exact identity of the Basij commander-in-chief is not specified in the source text; only the military title is provided. The source utilizes the standard Iranian state terminology 'Minister of War' to describe the Israeli Defense Minister, which has been preserved in the translated attribution without sanitization.