Israel Eliminates Top Iranian Leaders Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani in Airstrikes

Israeli airstrikes killed two of Iran's most senior remaining leaders on March 17, 2026, as the conflict that began on February 28 entered a new and more destructive phase, with military action spreading to a nuclear facility and a neighboring country's territory within hours.

Operation Epic Fury, the joint United States-Israel military campaign against Iran, began on February 28, 2026, with strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed Supreme Leader on March 9, 2026. The campaign has systematically targeted Iran's political and military leadership structure, with the killings of Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani on March 17 representing the latest in a series of strikes against senior figures of the Islamic Republic.

The IDF confirmed the killing of Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij paramilitary forces, in strikes carried out inside Iran on March 17, 2026. Ali Larijani, who served as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from 2025 and was described as Iran's de facto leader in the period following the death of Ali Khamenei, was also killed in an Israeli airstrike on the same day. Larijani, born June 3, 1958, had previously held the same secretariat role from 2005 to 2007 and was among the most prominent political figures still operating within the Iranian system. Soleimani, born in 1964, was a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps before taking command of the Basij. Their deaths, confirmed by ANSA and the IDF respectively, represent a significant blow to what remains of Iran's command structure.

Projectile lands near Bushehr nuclear plant A projectile struck near Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant on March 18, 2026, though Reuters reported no damage or injuries. The Bushehr plant sits 17 kilometers southeast of the city of Bushehr along the Persian Gulf coast. The incident marked the first confirmed strike in the immediate vicinity of a nuclear facility since the campaign began. Separately, Australia reported that an Iranian projectile struck an airbase in the United Arab Emirates on March 18, with all personnel confirmed safe, according to Reuters. The UAE strike indicated that Iran retained some capacity to project force beyond its borders even as its leadership and military infrastructure came under sustained attack. Iranian rescue workers were simultaneously reported to be struggling to operate under relentless bombardment, according to Reuters, with conditions on the ground severely hampering emergency response efforts.

Gulf states push Washington to maintain pressure on Tehran Several Arab Gulf states have urged the United States not to halt its military or political campaign against Iran, according to ANSA. The reported pressure from regional governments signals that key neighbors view the ongoing operation as aligned with their strategic interests, even as the conflict generates instability across the region. The UAE airbase strike added a direct dimension to Gulf state exposure to Iranian retaliation. Meanwhile, Iranian authorities announced the arrest of ten foreign nationals in the country's northeast on charges of espionage, according to the Tasnim news agency as reported by Reuters. The arrests pointed to heightened Iranian concern about intelligence penetration during a period of acute military vulnerability. No further details on the nationalities of those detained were confirmed in available reports.

Key events: Iran conflict escalation, March 17-18, 2026: — ; — ; — ; — ; —