The airstrike on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Tehran residence — one of the opening strikes of the US-Israeli war with Iran — killed the 86-year-old supreme leader and large parts of Iran’s command structure. With no successor yet chosen, a power vacuum has opened that appears, for now, to be filled by Ali Larijani, reportedly one of the few figures Khamenei trusted to safeguard the regime if the supreme leader died.
About a day after the Tehran strike, Larijani appeared on state television and social media to condemn the United States and Israel for striking “the heart of the Iranian nation.” He warned, “We will burn their hearts. We will make the Zionist criminals and the shameless Americans regret their actions.” Despite such rhetoric, Larijani is widely regarded abroad as a pragmatic operator — a ruthless internal powerbroker who can also negotiate with Russia, China and, at times, Western interlocutors.
The 67-year-old curtly rejected a recent suggestion by US President Donald Trump that Iranian leaders “want to talk,” posting on X: “We will not negotiate with the United States.”
Not a cleric himself, Larijani comes from a family deeply embedded in the Islamic Republic’s religious and political elite — a network once nicknamed the “Kennedys of Iran.” His father was a grand ayatollah; brother Sadeq Ardeshir Larijani served as judiciary chief from 2009 to 2019 and reached ayatollah rank; another brother, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, was a senior foreign-policy adviser to Khamenei. Larijani’s father-in-law, Morteza Motahhari, was a close aide to Ruhollah Khomeini. Even before Khamenei’s death, there were reports of Larijani family maneuvering aimed at placing one of their own in the supreme leadership.
Born in 1958, Larijani joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1981 and served as a commander during the Iran–Iraq war. He studied at a seminary, later earned a degree in computer science and mathematics, and completed a master’s and PhD in Western philosophy at the University of Tehran; his 1995 doctoral thesis examined Immanuel Kant. Combining wartime credentials and family ties, he built a long political career across key institutions.
In his mid-30s Larijani became culture minister, and in 1994 Ayatollah Khamenei named him head of state broadcasting, a role he held for about a decade. There he used media to support the regime, overseeing programs that publicly denounced dissident intellectuals as Western agents. He ran for president in 2005 but received under 6% of the vote; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won that election.
Larijani later served as secretary-general of the Supreme National Security Council and was Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, resigning the post in 2007 amid clashes with Ahmadinejad. Despite tensions with hardliners, he was elected parliamentary speaker in 2008 and held the influential position for 12 years. As speaker he helped secure parliamentary backing for the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal, which offered sanctions relief in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear program.
In 2020 Larijani oversaw negotiations for a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement with China, finalized in 2021, projecting significant Chinese investment in Iran’s energy sector. He ran for president in 2021 but was unexpectedly disqualified by the Guardian Council; no official reason was given. Observers suggested factors including concern over his family’s foreign ties or political maneuvering to favor the regime’s preferred candidate, Ebrahim Raisi. Sadiq Larijani publicly accused the secret service of providing false information that led to the disqualification.
Analysts argued the disqualification stemmed chiefly from Larijani’s public criticism of Raisi and certain Revolutionary Guard figures, and from his refusal to attack opposition figures placed under house arrest in 2010. Raisi won the presidency in 2021 but died in a helicopter crash in 2024. Larijani attempted another presidential bid and was again barred; moderates’ candidate Masoud Pezeshkian ultimately won that election.
Last summer President Pezeshkian reappointed Larijani as head of the Supreme National Security Council, making him Iran’s top security official amid renewed tensions and a 12-day war with Israel. Since then Larijani’s access to Khamenei and his influence have at times eclipsed Pezeshkian’s authority. He was a key figure behind revived nuclear talks with Western powers and frequently traveled to Moscow as an effective envoy to Vladimir Putin, often accompanied by Iran’s ambassador Kazem Jalali, a close Larijani ally.
Speaking to Al Jazeera days before the US-Israeli strike, Larijani said Iran had spent months preparing for the possibility of war: “We found our weaknesses and fixed them. We are not looking for war, and we won’t start the war. But if they force it on us, we will respond.”
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru