Israel says it's killed Iran's top security chief
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Israel's foreign minister said Iranians were "safer" without Ali Larijani and Basij paramilitary force commander Gholamreza Soleimani, after the Israeli military said it had killed both of them in strikes. Hours after the Israeli announcement, there has still been no response from Tehran to the claims. The defence minister, Israel Katz, said he had instructed the military to “continue hunting down” Iran’s leadership. Also: In the US, a top counter-terrorism official has resigned over the war against Iran, saying President Trump had been pushed into the conflict by Israeli pressure. And: Medical sources in Afghanistan say more than 100 bodies have been recovered after a Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation centre. We hear from our correspondent in Kabul, who went to the scene shortly after the strike. We find out why a US artificial intelligence firm wants to hire a chemical weapons expert; plus we look back at the life of best-selling spy thriller author Len Deighton, who's died. And we hear what is believed to be the earliest recording of whale song, from 1949.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | You're listening to the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.9 | Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 16 hours GMT on Tuesday the 17th of March. |
| 0:18.3 | Israel says it's killed one of the most powerful figures in Iran, Ali Larijani. |
| 0:23.5 | A top US counter-terrorism official resigns over the war, saying Iran posed no imminent threat. |
| 0:30.1 | And medical sources in Afghanistan say more than 100 bodies have been recovered after a |
| 0:34.7 | Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre. |
| 0:40.3 | Also in the podcast, |
| 0:46.3 | what we've learned from the earliest known recording of Wales song. |
| 0:57.4 | After the Iranian supreme leader Ali Haminae was killed at the start of the US-Israeli |
| 1:02.9 | offensive 17 days ago, Iran's powerful security chief, Ali Larijani, reportedly took over |
| 1:09.6 | behind the scenes. Now, according to Israel, he has |
| 1:13.1 | suffered the same fate as his former boss. |
| 1:20.5 | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the IDF to continue to hunt the |
| 1:26.9 | leadership of the terror and oppressive regime in Iran, |
| 1:30.8 | to cut off the head of the octopus and not let it grow. |
| 1:35.3 | I was updated by the chief of staff that the Secretary of the National Security Council, |
| 1:40.7 | Larry Janee, and the head of the Basge, the main oppression body of Iran, were |
| 1:46.5 | eliminated overnight. |
| 1:48.6 | The Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announcing the deaths of Ali Lari Jani and Hulam Reza |
| 1:54.3 | Soleimani, head of the IRGC's volunteer paramilitary force, the besiege. |
| 1:59.8 | Iran hasn't commented. |
... |
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