Iran security chief killed in overnight Israeli strike just days after taunting Donald Trump

Mr Larijani would be the most senior figure assassinated since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was killed on the first day of Israeli-US airstrikes on February 28.

Katz said Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Basij forces, had also been killed.

Iranian state media published a handwritten note by Mr Larijani commemorating Iranian sailors killed in a US attack whose funeral was expected on Tuesday.

However, there was no immediate comment by Tehran on Katz's remarks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the Israeli leader had ordered "the elimination of senior officials of the Iranian regime."

The IDF said it was targeting "Iranian regime infrastructure" with a new wave of strikes across Tehran, as well as Hezbollah sites in Beirut, a day after saying it had drawn up detailed plans for at least three more weeks of war with Iran.

Mr Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator and a close ally of Khamenei, was seen in Tehran on Friday taking part in Quds Day rallies.

Later that day, the US offered a reward of up to $10million for information on senior Iranian military and intelligence officials, including Larijani, as part of a list of 10 figures linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Multiple Israeli media outlets also said the strikes targeted Gholamreza Soleimal.

The Basij militia is a part-time paramilitary force under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that is often used to quell protests inside Iran.

Iran's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has rejected proposals for reducing tensions or for a ceasefire with the United States that were conveyed to Tehran by two intermediary countries.

The senior official, who asked not to be named, told reporters the supreme leader had said it was not "the right time for peace until the United States and Israel are brought to their knees, accept defeat, and pay compensation."

Multiple sources suggested that President Trump's administration has rebuffed efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the Iran war.

Meanwhile, US allies have rebuffed President Trump's request for help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which remains closed.