Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Tuesday confirmed the death of its chief Ali Larijani, after Israel said it had killed him in an air strike.

“The pure souls of the martyrs embraced the purified soul of God’s righteous servant, Martyr Dr. Ali Larijani,” the council said, adding that his son and his bodyguards had died with him.

“After a lifetime of struggle for the advancement of Iran and of the Islamic Revolution, he ultimately attained his long-held aspiration, answered the divine call, and honourably achieved the sweet grace of martyrdom in the trench of service,” it added.

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