EXPLAINER
The previous defence minister and secretary of Iran’s Defence Council was concerned in US-Iran nuclear negotiations.
Revealed On 28 Feb 2026
Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Defence Council and shut adviser to Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been killed in Israeli and US strikes on Iran.
An Israeli navy spokesperson mentioned he was amongst a number of prime Iranian officers killed on Saturday.
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There was no quick remark from Tehran on his destiny.
The 70-year-old was overseeing the negotiations between the US and Iran over the Iranian nuclear programme, the newest spherical of which concluded on Friday.
“If the primary difficulty of the negotiations is just not making nuclear weapons by Iran, that is in compliance with a spiritual decree issued by Iran’s chief and the nation’s defence doctrine, and an instantaneous settlement is inside attain,” Shamkhani mentioned on Thursday.
Shamkhani had additionally been focused in an Israeli strike in June 2025, in the course of the 12-day struggle between Iran and Israel. There have been studies that he had been killed within the assault, however he was later confirmed to have survived. He was pulled from the rubble of his dwelling, and had sustained extreme accidents.
He was not too long ago appointed the secretary of Iran’s Defence Council, which was created after the struggle and coordinates Iran’s defence and nationwide safety insurance policies, whereas mobilising sources to deal with threats.
In January, he warned that Iran’s response to any US navy motion can be “quick, all out, and unprecedented, concentrating on the center of Tel Aviv and all these supporting the aggressor”.
He led the Supreme Nationwide Safety Council (SNSC) for a decade till 2023, making him the second-longest-serving safety chief since 1979 after former President Hassan Rouhani, who was SNSC secretary for almost 16 years.
Born in Ahvaz in Iran’s Khuzestan, Shamkhani and his household moved to Los Angeles in the USA when he completed faculty. He later returned to Iran, the place he studied engineering.
Through the Iran-Iraq struggle within the Eighties, Shamkhani was a commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and went on to be a commander of each of Iran’s navies, the IRGC Navy and the Iranian Navy.
He was the minister of defence between 1997 and 2005, and was the primary Iranian defence official to go to Saudi Arabia for the reason that revolution. He additionally got here third within the 2001 presidential elections earlier than returning to his position as defence minister.
