On March 1, a day after the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview that the Iranian leaders wanted to resume negotiations. “I have agreed to talk,” he said. A response came swiftly from Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. “We will not negotiate with the Americans,” he wrote in a social media post. “You have set ablaze the hearts of the Iranian people,” he said in an interview, referring to the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader. “We will burn the hearts of our enemies.” In the days that followed, the U.S. and Israel stepped up their bombing campaign across the country. Iran retaliated by launching missiles at American bases in the Persian Gulf, and Israel. “The martyrdom of Imam Khamenei will exact a heavy price from you,” Mr. Larijani said on March 4. On March 6, both President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran was not immediately seeking a ceasefire. Mr. Trump then demanded “an unconditional surrender” from Iran’s rulers.

As the war unfolds with regional implications, Mr. Larijani has emerged as a defiant face and voice of the Iranian state. The Security Council he leads is one of the most important institutions of the state, especially during wartime. Founded in 1989 under the revised Constitution, the Council’s main responsibility is to define defence and national security policies. The secretary of the Security Council is roughly the equivalent of the National Security Adviser of India.

West Asia on fire: On the Israeli-American war against Iran

Mr. Larijani came of age during the tremulous years of pre-revolutionary Iran. His father, Grand Ayatollah Hashem Amoli, a renowned Shia cleric, fled to Iraq in the 1930s to avoid persecution under the Shah. Ali Larijani was born in Najaf, the central Iraqi city which hosts the tomb of Imam Ali, in 1958. The Larijanis moved back to Iran in 1960. Ali Larijani studied in a religious seminary in Qom and got a bachelor of science degree in computer science from Aryamehr University of Technology, Tehran. For his Master’s and Ph.D., he switched to Western philosophy.

According to a profile of Mr. Larijani on the University of Tehran website, he has published three books on Immanuel Kant (all in Farsi) — The Mathematical Method in Kant’s Philosophy, Metaphysics and the Exact Sciences in Kant’s Philosophy, and Intuition and Synthetic A Priori Judgments in Kant’s Philosophy. He has also written a book on Descartes’ Discourse on the Method. He has additionally published on Saul Kripke — the American philosopher of language and modal logic — and David Lewis, the analytical metaphysician.

A member of the elite

Like many of his generation, who were inspired by the 1979 revolution, Mr. Larijani joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the paramilitary organisation founded by Ayatollah Khomeini soon after the revolution. The IRGC grew into one of the most formidable institutions of the Islamic Republic during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Many of the veterans of the war emerged as future leaders of the country. During the administration of President Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989-97), Mr. Larijani was appointed as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance. In 1994, he became the director general of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), an arm of the Office of the Supreme Leader. This role brought him closer to the leader (rahbar), Ayatollah Khamenei. By the turn of the century, Mr. Larijani had become one of the key figures of the elite of the Islamic Republic, with close ties with the country’s conservative establishment.

Mahomud Ahmadinejad, the conservative who became President in 2005, appointed Mr. Larijani as the head of the Security Council and chief nuclear negotiator. As a nuclear negotiator, he had sent mixed signals. He once likened European incentives to abandon Iran’s nuclear programme to “exchanging a pearl for a candy bar”. But the same Mr. Larijani quit the Security Council in 2007 amid disagreements with Mr. Ahmadinejad, whose hardline policies had deepened Iran’s isolation in the world. It was a rare public rupture in the conservative camp.

After falling out with Mr. Ahmadinejad, Mr. Larijani moved to parliamentary politics. In 2008, he got elected to the Majles and became Speaker, a position he would hold till 2020. So when Hassan Rouhani pursued nuclear talks with the U.S. and signed a deal in 2015 with world powers, Mr. Larijani, as speaker, provided the much-needed legislative support for Mr. Rouhani. When the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal, was put to debate in the Majles, Mr. Larijani gave just 20 minutes to discuss it for Parliament’s 290 members, before pushing it through.

In domestic politics, he has been associated with the principalist (hardline) camp. He was supported by the Islamic Society of Engineers, a principalist political organisation. In 2005, when he stood for the presidential elections for the first time, his bid was supported by the Council for Coordination of the Forces of the Revolution, an umbrella group of conservative organisations. He ranked sixth, winning only 5.94% of votes, but became the Security Council Secretary. In 2021 and 2024, he registered for the presidential election, but his nomination was rejected by the powerful Guardian Council. But Masoud Pezeshkian, who won the 2024 presidential election, brought Mr. Larijani back as the Security Council chief.

Security czar

For years, Iran had built a sprawling network of allies in West Asia, both as a deterrent and as an offensive strategy. Iranians called it the “forward defence” doctrine. The champion of forward defence was Qassem Soleimani, the Quds Force general who was assassinated by the U.S. in January 2020. When General Soleimani was killed, Mr. Larijani warned that the killing would alter the political balance of the region and that the U.S. “will be held accountable” for this “brutal act”.

“The response to Haj Qassem Soleimani’s blood should be measures to make American forces flee from the region,” he said, according to Tehran Times. But the Iranian response was a token strike at a U.S. military base in Iraq. U.S. troops continued to stay in the region.

In April 2025, amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran, Mr. Larijani said if attacked, Iran would have “no choice” but to get nuclear weapons. “We are not moving towards nuclear weapons, but if you do something wrong in the Iranian nuclear issue, you will force Iran to move towards that because it has to defend itself,” he said. In two months, Israel started bombing Iran, triggering the 12-day war. The U.S. joined Israel on June 22 in bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities. In the months that followed the June war, Mr. Larijani, as a confidant of the Supreme Leader, emerged as the go-to man in the system. While President Pezeshkian’s role was limited to running the day-to-day matters of the country, Mr. Larijani became the security czar.

He endorsed the nuclear talks that opened in January following protests in Iran. The U.S. and Iran held three rounds of talks. On February 27, Oman’s Foreign Minister, who was mediating the talks, said a deal was within reach. Within hours the U.S. and Israel launched the war, killing Khamenei and several other top leaders. Amid war and a political vacuum, a furious Iran responded with its drones and ballistic missiles. “The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will deliver an unforgettable lesson to the hellish international oppressors,” Mr. Larijani said in the middle of the war. Eight days into the war, Iran has been hit hard by the U.S. and Israel. Tehran has also retaliated by escalating its attacks. Donald Trump has demanded an unconditional surrender. But the IRGC, the revolutionary organisation where Mr. Larijani cut his teeth, has warned of a “prolonged war”.

Published – March 07, 2026 06:34 pm IST

, March 4, 2026 (AFP)

Israel early Wednesday (March 4, 2026) launched new attacks on Iran as the U.S. military said it has hit nearly 2,000 targets inside the Islamic republic, which tried to impose a cost by expanding a missile and drone barrage across the region.

Iran-Israel war LIVE

With global energy prices on the rise, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy was ready to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital chokepoint into the Gulf that Iran has threatened to seal off.

Israel’s military said it launched a “broad wave of strikes” after midnight across Iran, which in the hours before had launched three separate missile barrages at Israel, causing mild injuries to a woman in Tel Aviv.

The U.S. military has hit nearly 2,000 targets since attacking Iran alongside Israel on Saturday (February 28, 2026), targeting ballistic missiles and “all the things that can shoot at us”, said Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command.

“These forces bring a massive amount of firepower, representing the largest buildup by the U.S. in the Middle East in a generation,” he said in a video message, describing the first day’s barrage as bigger than the so-called “shock and awe” against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 2003.

The U.S. and Israeli attacks have killed 787 people in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, a toll that could not be independently confirmed by AFP.

Iran vowed to inflict a heavy price in retaliation. Drones struck adjacent the U.S. consulate in Dubai, starting a fire but inflicting no casualties, and against the U.S. military base at Al-Udeid in Qatar.

The attacks came a day after strikes on the U.S. embassies in Riyadh and Kuwait City and on a U.S. air base in Bahrain.

“We are saying to the enemy that if it decides to hit our main centres, we will hit all economic centres in the region,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard General Ebrahim Jabbari said.

Trump says no more talks

The United States and Israel launched the attack on Saturday (February 28, 2026) and quickly killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two days after U.S. envoys had been speaking to Iran in Geneva on a nuclear accord.

Mr. Trump insisted that Iran wanted to resume talks but it was “too late”.

He also walked back a statement the day before from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said the U.S. attack’s timing was precipitated by Israel’s plans.

“If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” Mr. Trump said as he met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.

Mr. Trump boasted that “just about everything’s been knocked out” in Iran, including its navy, air force and air detection, and said the attacks had killed even leaders who could have taken over.

“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” Mr. Trump said. “Now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports.”

According to Iranian media, U.S. and Israeli strikes targeted a building on Tuesday (March 3, 2026) in the holy city of Qom belonging to the committee that is to elect a new supreme leader. The Tasnim news agency reported that strikes had already targeted the body’s main headquarters in Tehran the day before.

Mr. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to rise up but Mr. Trump said regime change was not the goal.

The assault came weeks after Iranian authorities clamped down on mass protests, killing thousands.

Lebanon violence expands

The regional war also took a growing toll on Lebanon, where Hezbollah, the armed Shiite Muslim movement that long had Tehran as a benefactor, launched drones and rockets at Israel in retaliation for Khamenei’s slaying.

Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli naval base in the northern city of Haifa and Israel said it struck Beirut’s heavily Shiite southern suburbs. Loud explosions were heard early Wednesday (March 4, 2026).

Israeli strikes have killed at least 52 people in Lebanon, according to the government, while the United Nations said that more than 30,000 people were displaced.

In a throwback to earlier wars, Israel said it was moving troops across the border to create a buffer zone inside Lebanon.

In Tehran, photos showed damage to Mehrabad airport, which handles mainly domestic flights.

The Israeli military also announced a strike on an underground facility on the eastern outskirts of Tehran where it alleged scientists were covertly working on a nuclear programme.

The United States ordered non-emergency personnel to leave embassies in much of the region. The Washington Post reported that the Iranian drone in Riyadh hit the station of the CIA.

The United States encouraged all Americans to leave the region if they can find commercial flights, even though air travel has been severely disrupted.

The State Department said that some 9,000 Americans have found a way home.

Qatar said it had downed missiles targeting Hamad International Airport in Doha. Oman reported several drones attacking the port of Duqm, and in the UAE falling debris from an intercepted drone caused a fire at an oil storage and trading zone, authorities said.

Ghost town

In Tehran, residents who have not fled remained shut away in their homes for fear of the U.S.-Israeli bombardment.

The Iranian capital is normally home to around 10 million people, but in recent days “there are so few people that you’d think no one ever lived here”, said Samireh, a 33-year-old nurse.

Authorities had previously urged people to leave the city, and police officers, armed security forces and armoured vehicles have been stationed at main junctions, carrying out random checks on vehicles.

In the more upmarket north of Tehran, the meowing of cats and chirping of birds replaced the usual din of traffic jams.

Iranian authorities said a strike on a school in the city of Minab on the first day of the war killed more than 150 people. AFP has been unable to access the location independently to verify the toll or circumstances.

The U.S. military began naming the first of six troops who have been killed. In Israel, nine people died Sunday (March 1, 2026) when a missile hit the town of Beit Shemesh.

At least eight people have died across the Gulf.

The United States and Israel have received lukewarm support, with Western nations limiting involvement to helping Gulf states and repatriating citizens.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who had backed the strikes, said Wednesday (March 4, 2026) in Sydney that it was time for “rapid de-escalation”.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to announce that the U.S. had begun “major combat operations” in Iran in this screengrab from a video released February 28, 2026.
| Photo Credit: TruthSocial/@Trump via Reuters

A protester holds a portrait of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the U.S. Embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, on Feb. 28, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP