Global News Podcast - Israel says it's killed Iran's top security chief

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

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.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

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on the Apple App and Google Play Store. Buy your next car today with Car Guru. at Carguoros.ca. Go to Carguoros.ca. Go to Cargueroos.com.com. You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 16 hours GMT on Tuesday the 17th of March. Israel says it's killed one of the most powerful figures in Iran, Ali Larijani. A top US counter-terrorism official resigns over the war, saying Iran posed no imminent threat. And medical sources in Afghanistan say more than 100 bodies have been recovered after a Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre. Also in the podcast, what we've learned from the earliest known recording of Whale Song.

After the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Haminae was killed at the start of the US-Israeli offensive, 17 days ago, Iran's powerful security chief, Ali Larry Jani, reportedly took over behind the scenes. Now, according to Israel, he has suffered the same fate as his former boss. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the IDF to continue to hunt the leadership of the terror and oppressive regime in Iran, to cut off the head of the octopus and not let it grow. I was updated by the chief of staff that the Secretary of the National Security Council,

Larry Jani, and the head of the besiege, the main oppression body of Iran, were eliminated overnight. The Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announcing the deaths of Ali Larijani and Hulam Reza Soleimani, head of the IRGC's volunteer paramilitary force, the besiegege. Iran hasn't commented. Ali Larajani was one of the most powerful leaders left alive in Iran

after more than two weeks of attacks. He was a former parliamentary speaker, IRGC commander and the country's nuclear negotiator. He reportedly tried and failed to get his brother chosen as the next supreme leader, but was said to be close to the man who did get the job, Mastabar Haminae. Ironically, Ali Larajanii recently told President Trump

to be careful, quote, not to be eliminated. As recently as Friday, he was seen walking defiantly through the streets of Tehran for the annual Al-Qudsday March. The problem with Trump is that he's not intelligent enough to understand that Iranians are a mature and strong and determined nation. The more pressure he exerts, the stronger our nation's willpower will become. Well, Paham, Gubadi from the BBC Persian Service,

told me that if his death is confirmed by Iran, it would be extremely significant. He is one of the people who was left behind the scene that was seen as a person who was running the country because the supreme leader of the country, Ali Khanani, has been killed on the first minute of the war when it broke out. His son, who has become the third supreme leader of Iran, his whereabouts is unknown, his health condition is unknown.

Nobody knows if he's in a shape and form to be able to run the country or not. We know that a few days ago, one Iran's member of parliament said that there was an assassination attempt on his life, not once, but twice, once in a hospital, once on the first day of the war. However, Ali Larijani comes from a family that the entire family is extremely powerful. He was, as you mentioned, the Speaker of Iranian Parliament for 12 years. Before that, he was the head of Iran's national TV. And before that, he was also comes from Revolutionary Guard, because Iran has two armies, one convention, regular army. The other one is the revolutionary guards that is very loyal to the Supreme Leader, extremely ideological. So he has come from that kind of background. Now, in today's

politics, he was seen as a bridge between the military, between the Revolutionary Guards and different faction of the powers. He was a conservative, but he was seen as a pragmatic conservative. However, his rhetoric changed tremendously after the war, broke out. As you played one of his audios, he became more belligerent to the United States to also Donald Trump. Once, even during the 12-day war, he threatened to kill the head of International Energy Agency, implying that he would be killed because he said, let the dust settle and will come after you. Because IAEA's report, Iranians believe, that paved the way for the first round of the war with Israel. Regardless, he was a very important figure, and that in today's Iran scene, there are not

a lot of people who can run the country. So after he is killed, one of the very few people who is left is Muhammad Bougar, the current Speaker of the Parliament. He, after the 12-day War, he said that because so many commanders, Iranian commanders, Revolutionary Guards commanders were killed, he was the person in charge of the military operations against Israel. So he was running the fight against the country. He is, I wouldn't be surprised if he's now leading the fight and also running the country

because he also is a pilot and he also comes from revolutionary guards and he has a revolutionary guard background. Yeah, talking of the Revolutionary Guards, they are basically in control of the streets in Iran, along with the besiege militia, that volunteer group, which works under them. And now the head of the besiege has also been killed. That's correct. So Basij, for your non-Iranian audience,

it's a paramilicia group that is a kind of sub-branch of revolutionary guards. This is where they recruit the youth in the mosques. So in the mosques, they have this Basij headquarters, then the young people, they try to recruit the young people as young as 14 and 15. And we've received some reports that kids, as young as 14 and 15, they're holding rifles on the streets to be able to exert their power and to show that they're still dominant in Iran. Parham Gobiadi from the BBC Persian Service.

And we have more on the reported death of Ali Larry Jani on our YouTube channel. Search there for BBC News. And you'll find the Global News Podcast. in the podcast section. The conflicts in Iran is not universally popular back in the US, and has even been criticized by some of President Trump's strongest supporters. Now a senior counter-terrorism official there has resigned, saying he could not, in good conscience, back the war in Iran.

Trump appointee Joe Kent, director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, said Iran posed no imminent threat to the nation, and he urged the president to reverse course. Our Washington correspondent, Helena Humphrey, spoke to Laila Nathu. Joe Kent is the first senior Trump administration officials to resign over the war in Iran. And what all of this is exposing is a split inside President Trump's own America-first base. So if you want to know more about Mr Kent ideologically just to begin with, it's worth noting that along with being a high-ranking official and a veteran,

he also twice ran for Congress unsuccessfully as a Republican backing President Trump. So in this letter which he posted on X, Joe Kent said that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States. He argued that this war was started under pressure from Israel and its allies in Washington. And he claimed that the president had been misled by what he called misinformation from Israeli officials and influential U.S. voices. He was quite blunt in that letter, which I've got in front of me. He says at one point that this was a lie. And so I think what all of this is highlighting is this. growing unease within the America First Wing of the Republican Party,

because many analysts will say that this is the exact kind of foreign entanglement that President Trump promised to avoid. I mean, you've got some others more traditional Republicans who are supportive of confronting Iran, but certainly we're seeing this divide reemerge. I mean, he's not a marginal figure. He's a former Special Forces operative, a CIA officer, really embedded in counterterrorism.

And I think it's also worth note. noting that his wife was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019. So when he's talking about the cost of these wars, you know, I think that carries weight. Right. And he is the first senior official to actually leave his job over this on a matter of principle and disagreement over this strategy. Do you think that we could see more now, more figures in the Trump administration, at least speaking out, more forcefully against the war? Indeed, Leila, that is what everybody will be.

watching for now, I think it's fair to say. We haven't had comment yet publicly from the White House, but certainly, as you say, this resignation raises questions about internal dissent, whether others might follow. And I think it goes to the heart of President Trump's political identity as well, because as I'd mentioned, you know, he was campaigning against ending so-called forever wars in the Middle East. And so if you've got a senior official resigning saying that this war contradicts that, I think it's politically sensitive, especially as we head towards the midterm election. in November, and it will raise those kind of questions about whether we could see others in his wake. Helena Humphrey in Washington, talking to Leila Nathu.

Well, before Iran, the US carried out a military operation against Venezuela, seizing the authoritarian president there, Nicholas Maduro, on the 3rd of January. With his departure came a cautious hope for change among Venezuelans, though the rest of the Maduro regime is still in power. So, how are things going now? Ione Wells has been to find out. I'm at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas to hear from some students

about what they hope for from the future. I am a medicine student and 30 years old. A transition should happen in a peaceful calm way. It wouldn't happen overnight. Today, there's a meeting here of a new political movement in Venezuela called We Save Venezuela. It's a group of young people

of different political persuasions, getting together to discuss what the future of Venezuela might look like, possible opposition candidates, and how a transition might work. I feel intervention in any country isn't the best thing, but it was the firm hand Venezuela needed to move forward and be a free country with democracy, where everyone can raise their voice without fear of being arrested. It's absurd. that we as a country with the largest oil reserves in the world have these deficits. Yesterday, I was without power for six hours there in Maracaille.

The energy issue ends up paralyzing the economy and the progress of the country. The real hope of Venezuelans is that we can live in freedom and that our rights will be respected. There are still regular government rallies for Nicolas Maduro, with supporters demanding. his release. But away from the main crowd, some young people told me they were public sector workers who were compelled to attend or risk penalties at work. I hope that the world knows everything they see on government media is false. It's all a lie.

This 22-year-old worker, Elena, whose voice and name we've changed, says last month, public employees received a $150 bonus for attending pro-Modura marches, on top of a $120 dollar monthly salary. Friends who didn't go didn't get it. The economy continues the same. The government remains the same. The fear of expressing yourself still exists because the figures that represent the most terror in government remain imposed. I asked how she felt about the idea of living in a democracy. Elena doesn't want to emigrate like the millions of Venezuelans who have fled the economic crisis, but others told me they no longer see a future for themselves here.

One of them is Anna, whose name we've also changed, a 25-year-old teacher from Maracaibo, hoping to move to Spain. I don't know what it is like to be able to go on the street and don't feel like you could get killed at any point in time just because you posted the wrong thing in social media. I want to earn money and feel like I can live somewhere that actually has electricity, She grew up watching her mother cry when the family did not have enough money for the week and people looting shops in her hometown, Maracaibo, when power cuts lasted a week. She's lived through too many cycles of things getting better, then worse again,

to believe things will be different just because Maduro is gone. It can be very lonely. Most of my friends had to flee the country to pursue something better. Not all young people are convinced by the US's intervention. But one thing I clearly heard that unites many young Venezuelans who have never, never lived through a change of political party, is they want less polarization and corruption, with crucially, the freedom to speak without fear.

Ione Wells reporting from Venezuela. And still to come in this podcast. What's wrong with that? Edmund Dorff. All the best Englishmen have foreign names, much more convincing. I'm sorry, I just don't feel like an Edmund Dorff. Charmy. We look back at the life of the spy thriller author Len Dayton,

who's died age 97. Ever feel like car shopping is designed to make you second-guess yourself? Is this a good price? Am I making the right choice? With Car Gurus, you don't have to wonder. You get deal ratings, price history and dealer reviews without the surprises. So you can shop with confidence. It's no wonder Car Gurus is the number one rated car shopping app in Canada on the Apple App and Google Play Store. Buy your next car gurus today with Car Gurus atcagurus.ca.

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That's car, g-U-R-U-S.ca.cagurus.ca. This is the Global News podcast. Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of harboring Pakistani militant groups, something the Taliban government denies. The ongoing conflict between the two former allies intensified in February when Pakistan launched new airstrikes on what it said were militant targets in Afghanistan. But now the Pakistani military is accused of hitting a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul. Video footage from the scene showed flashes of light, explosions and a giant plume of smoke. Shad Khan Zaman from the Afghan Health Ministry says hundreds of people died. Unfortunately, we have more than 400 civilian casualties that they were attest,

they were targeted from the Pakistani military regime. It was a totally civilian area, and it was a health facility that they targeted. Unfortunately, the Pakistani military regime there doing propaganda that we targeted the TTA or TTP. But the reality, in fact, we have lots of media partners. They are witnessed that here we have totally civilian casualties in lots of them. They were health professionals and also medical stuff, and 400 plus were the killed people. they were under the treatment in the hospital. The BBC's Yama Beres in Kabul visited the scene about an hour after the fire broke out.

We got to the hospital. It was a scene of total carnage. There were fire everywhere. There were bodies lying all over the place. There were debris. There were twisted iron rods from the building structure. And there were paramedics, ambulances. I live. personally saw over 30 bodies being carried to the ambulances. Tens of ambulances were standing in a line there. We saw members of the families of these drug addicts outside the hospital. There were women crying. They wanted disparately to get some information about their loved ones. When we spoke to authorities there, at that time the authorities did not have any exact number about deaths and injures, but they estimated that it could be hundreds because 3,000 drug addicts

were being treated in that facility. It's a huge rehabilitation facility. There are several blocks, but this bomb, which has landed on this building, had hit one block, and that block was completely reduced to rabble. And because, according to the officials, a lot of wood was used in the structure. because it was sort of a makeshift rehabilitation structure. So that's why they said that the fire was burning. And a complete distraction, a complete scene of total courage. Yama, there is in Kabul. And sources at the Kabul Forensic Medicine Department

have now told the BBC that more than 100 bodies have been recovered after the strike so far. Pakistan, meanwhile, has denied targeting the rehabilitation centre saying it only hits military sites. I spoke to the BBC's Caroline Davis in Islamabad. Very quickly on social media, we saw a response from the Ministry of Information in Pakistan saying that this was not the case that they had been targeting military sites, as they refer to it, sites that can facilitate militant activity as well. And since then, we have heard them really continue with that line.

Mostly we have still continued to hear from the Pakistan authorities labelling the Taliban's points saying that they're talking about propaganda, that has been their kind of consistent line of dissents. And I think that is something we've seen repeatedly in this conflict. Of course, Pakistan used to support the Taliban in Afghanistan. And why are they fighting now? There has been a rapid deterioration in the relationship between Afghanistan and the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan. As you say, in 2021, when the Afghan Taliban came to power and seized control in Kabul, there were people who were inside the Pakistan government who were saying that this would be a good thing for Pakistan.

However, relatively quickly, Pakistan started to criticise and to say that the Afghan Taliban were allowing militants to be able to operate inside Afghanistan's borders that would then plan attacks come across the border into Pakistan, carry those attacks out. They wanted to see the Afghan Taliban government doing more to stop those groups. and we saw a sort of a flurry of attempts at sort of diplomacy, lots of different meetings between the two sides, but ultimately the relationship really deteriorated. In October last year, we saw major clashes on the border and attacks and missiles being fired as well. Again, there was a fragile ceasefire that was broken in February. And now there does not currently seem to be any suggestion of a ceasefire being anywhere on the table. We know that China has attempted to try to do some form of back and forth, speaking. to both sides. But at the moment, we've also heard from the Pakistan's Prime Minister's spokesperson

who said there is nothing to talk about, which doesn't suggest that there's a huge amount of scope for finding a middle ground at the moment. Caroline Davis in Islamabad. Now, why would an artificial intelligence firm want to hire a chemical weapons expert? The US company Anthropics says it needs one to prevent what it calls catastrophic misuse of its software. In particular, it wants to make sure its AI tools can't be used to generate recipes for chemical weapons. Here's our technology editor Zoe Kleinman. What Anthropic says it's trying to do is to make sure that its product is as safe as possible. So it's looking for a world-leading expert in chemical weapons and dirty bombs.

And what it wants that person to do is to be able to spot anything that its system might generate that could result in the creation of a lethal weapon. happen, you know, if prompted or sort of falls into being prompted to do it. And that's quite reassuring in a way, isn't it? Because you sort of think, you know, someone like you or me might not spot something that was in a, you know, a load of AI generated content that could be dangerous, whereas somebody with huge and very specific expertise is more likely to do that. But the counter argument to that, there are concerns from other experts that the fact is you're still giving these tools, that information, aren't you? Even if you're telling them

not to do it. So, for example, if I say to you, don't think about the colour red, I'm still, you know, giving you the idea of the colour red, that's very simplistic. But some people are saying, well, actually, we shouldn't be handing over that information at all, especially as we know that this technology is evolving very rapidly and there's promises that it's going to become ever more independent and autonomous. You know, might there come a day when it knows all of this, but it decides to overall the instruction not to do it. So currently the human in the loop, that's what the tech companies call it, is very important in the industry. In terms of how future proof that is, you know, it's really difficult to tell. I mean, Anthropic isn't the only company taking this

approach. The firm OpenAI, which of course developed chat GPT, has also advertised for a researcher in chemical and biological risk, and they're paying good money. OpenAI is offering over $400,000 for this position. So it does seem to be the approach that the industry is going for to try to make these systems safe. And Anthropics says it's also appointing experts in other subjects. Interesting, I spoke to a few people at the firm about this job advert when I first saw it. And one of them said to me, are you inquiring as a journalist or are you interested in the position? And I have to say, you know, I am definitely not someone who considers myself to be an expert in chemical weapons. But, you know, they're obviously sort of casting the net wide.

Our technology editor, Zoe Kleinman. One of the best-selling authors of the 20th century, Len Dayton, has died at the age of 97. Born into poverty in London, he also worked as an illustrator and wrote a number of historical books. He sold tens of millions of novels, including the Ipcrest File, which was made into a successful film. Lizo Mizimba looks back at his life. Courtney, I am going to cook you. The best meal you've ever eaten. Michael Cain, in the film of Len Dayton's, The Ipcrest's.

file. A new kind of spy, working class and balshie, and a bit like his creator. Len Dayton was born in a workhouse, the child of domestic servants. The RAF trained him as a photographer. After art college, he became an illustrator, then a food writer. He wrote three more books featuring his nameless hero called Harry Palmer in the films, including funeral in Berlin. Dorff? What's wrong with that? All the best English and have foreign names, much more convincing. I'm sorry, I just don't feel like an Edmund Dorff. Charming.

He tried his hand at filmmaking himself, writing and co-producing, Oh, What a Lovely War. But he preferred writing books, especially about the Second World War. Bomber was an account of an Allied bombing raid on Germany, as seen from both sides. Some thought it anti-war. He disagreed. Where does it say it's an anti-war?

I understand it's an anti-war book, that as a publisher's never said it's an anti-war book. This is just existing your mind as anti-war book. What this is, it's a war book. Blood, tears and folly was a history of the war's early years. Like all his work, it was carefully researched. He felt he had something to prove to those who, unlike him, had degrees and expensive educations.

Liso Mizimba on Len Dayton, who's died at the age of 97. Marine scientists in the US have stumbled across what they believe to be the earliest recording of whale song on a disc in their archives. The recording from 1949 captures the sound of humpback whales off the coast of Bermuda. Researchers say it paints a picture of how whales communicated at a time when the oceans were much quieter. Here's what the microphones picked up almost 80 years ago. Well, Peter Tayak is from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. He told Sean Lay how their researcher discovered the recording.

When she was reviewing data from early research cruises about a year ago, she discovered about 200 audio recordings from 1949 that had been recorded directly onto vinyl discs. And she was particularly curious about one whose liner notes said fish noises on the side. And she sent this disc and two others to be digitized by a specialist. And as soon as she heard the digitized recording, she thought the sounds probably were more likely whales than fish. and then she contacted me and other bioacousticians to get a positive identification.

And what's unusual about this is how far back these sounds were recorded, yes? Yes, this recording was made well before people knew what sounds different species of whales make. During World War II, people recorded sounds in ships and were able to hear unusual sounds that they thought were biological, but they had no idea what the source of sound was. So when they heard this sound, when they were a recording from this cruise, they just recorded it because it was so unexpected and unusual. We're going to play a bit from the 1949 recording, and then we'll play something else,

and you can perhaps draw out the contrast for us, if you would, Peter. So here's the recording that was digitised and recovered last year. Now this is a more recent recording from the 2010s. Now the recording quality is unsurprisingly better, But is there any other difference that you draw attention to? The ocean soundscape that the whales live in has changed quite a bit. There's a lot more ships for shipping. And as motorized ships move, they inject noise in the ocean that elevates the background.

There also are new sources of sound. Sounds used to probe for oil and gas below the sea surface. New kinds of sounds used for sonar and for communication within the ocean. It also turns out that a warming ocean changes how, sound propagates. So climate change is also causing changes in how sound from all of these different sources propagate through the ocean and change the sound that we hear anywhere listening in the ocean. Is there any sense in which their communication has been affected by all this additional noise? Yes, the best case that we have for looking at how whales have changed their vocalizations

when they have increasing amounts of low frequency shipping noise is right whales in the Atlantic have been recorded from the 1950s to today. And if you look at the frequency of the calls that Wright Whales made in 1950 and compare them to 2000, they've basically switched from being basses to tenors. So the low-frequency shipping noise caused them to increase the frequency of their calls

about half an octave. It's hard for bases to shift to be tenors. So presumably, in a quiet environment, they preferred the earlier frequencies, but they were able to shift to compensate for the noise. Marine scientist Peter Tayak. And that's all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back very soon.

This edition was mixed by Charlie Berringer and produced by Richard Hamilton. Our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye. Shopping for a car should be exciting, not exhausting, but sometimes it can feel like a maze. That's where car gurus comes in.

They have advanced search tools, unbiased deal ratings and price history. So you know a great deal when you see one. It's no wonder Car Gurus is the number one rated car shopping app in Canada on the Apple app and Google Play Store. Buy your next car gurus today with Car Gurus at Cargooros.ca. Go to Cargooros.ca.ca. Go to Car gurus.ca.cairus.ca.ca.