Iran confirms key regime leader Ali Larijani killed in Israeli airstrike | BBC News

Iran’s supreme national security council has confirmed the death of its leader, Ali Larijani.

He is one of the most senior figures in the Iranian regime to have been killed in US and Israeli airstrikes since the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the war.

In a statement Iran’s national security council said: “The pure souls of the martyrs embraced the purified soul of God’s righteous servant, Martyr Dr Ali Larijani.” It said that his son had also been killed along with his bodyguards.

Israel had earlier said it had killed Larijani in airstrikes overnight. It said a separate strike had killed the Basij paramilitary force commander, Gholamreza Soleimani and his death was also confirmed by Iranian state media.

President Trump has again criticised NATO allies for failing to support the US in its war with Iran. He declared that “we don’t need their help”, having appealed to allies to send warships to help open the key sea lane the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile a senior official in the Trump administration has quit, saying he cannot suppor the war in Iran. Joe Kent, who was head of the national counterterrorism centre, said Iran posed no imminent threat to the US and claimed pressure from Israel had led to the war.

Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Sarah Smith, Laura Kuenssberg, Jeremy Bowen and Fergal Keane.

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