Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), issued a stark warning following reports of the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a U.S.-Israeli military strike. Larijani, a close confidant of the late Supreme Leader and a former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, vowed retribution in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “We will make the Zionist regime (referring to Israel) and the vile Americans regret their actions,” he wrote, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.
The statement came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alluded to Khamenei’s death in a televised address, stating there were “several indications” that he was no longer alive. Former U.S. President Donald Trump also confirmed Khamenei’s death via his Truth Social platform, calling him “one of the most evil people in history” and asserting that he “could not escape our intelligence capabilities and highly sophisticated tracking systems.” Trump characterized the death as “justice” for the Iranian people and victims of violence linked to Khamenei’s regime.
While Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s President, is the country’s official number two, the succession to the position of Supreme Leader is not automatic. According to Iran’s constitution, Article 111, a three-person emergency committee – comprised of the President, the Head of the Judiciary and a senior Islamic jurist from the Guardian Council – will temporarily fulfill the duties of the Supreme Leader. However, the CIA has assessed that some or all of these individuals may have been killed in the recent attacks, leaving the composition of the interim leadership uncertain, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Larijani has been increasingly influential in recent months, overseeing both domestic strategies to suppress protests and foreign policy initiatives aimed at countering U.S. And Israeli influence, according to reports. He previously served as Speaker of the Iranian Parliament from 2008 to 2020 and held four ministerial positions. While considered a pragmatic conservative, Larijani has also been a proponent of forceful measures to quell internal dissent, as evidenced by his role in the crackdown on recent anti-government demonstrations. The Modern York Times reported last month that Larijani’s authority and responsibilities had been “steadily expanding” in the months leading up to Khamenei’s death.
Despite his prominence, Larijani’s path to becoming Supreme Leader is not guaranteed. He is not a high-ranking Shia cleric, a traditional requirement for the position. According to Yonhap News Agency, the key variable in maintaining the existing system will be the unity of the Revolutionary Guard and the military. The agency also reported that the CIA anticipates a hardliner will likely assume power.
As of Saturday, March 1, 2026, no official announcement regarding the formation of the emergency committee has been made by Iranian state media.
