Iran confirmed the death of Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and announced a joint funeral procession for him, Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani and the 84 crew members killed aboard the destroyer Dena, state media reported on March 18.

Larijani, one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic's wartime leadership, was last seen publicly on March 14 at Quds Day rallies in Tehran alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The confirmation ends two days of uncertainty over Larijani's fate after Israel claimed on March 17 that it had killed him in an overnight airstrike on a Tehran safe house.

It turns out that the former parliament speaker was not at a safe house but at his son's house in the Tehran suburb of Pardis.

The joint Israeli-US strike destroyed an entire residential block, likely leading to the deaths of several in the apartment building and the surrounding area, according to footage seen by IntelliNews. 

Iranian state media had initially published an undated handwritten note from Larijani, but stopped short of confirming he was alive. It was later confirmed by his official channel.

The funeral procession will begin at 1.30 pm local time from Revolution Square in Tehran and proceed to the Martyrs' Memorial, the Islamic Coordination Council said in a statement.

Larijani, the top security official and nuclear negotiator, was one of the most powerful figures in Iran's wartime leadership and a close ally of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the US-Israeli strikes on February 28.

Israel also claimed to have killed Soleimani, the Basij paramilitary commander, and his deputy Rassem Qoreishi in the same wave of strikes on March 17.

His death is the highest-profile assassination since the killing of Khamenei and highlights the breakdown of counter-intelligence by the Islamic Republic.