Tracing the kinship networks, ideological lineage, and international footprint of the late principlist’s family
The late principlist politician Ali Larijani, reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike March 16, presided over a political business empire that connected him to familial networks at the top of the Islamic Republic’s power structure. Larijani’s daughter, as well as his nieces and nephews, have lived in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, according to publicly accessible information reviewed by Tehran Bureau.
Born in the religious city of Najaf in Iraq, Larijani married into a kinship network that boosted his revolutionary pedigree. His wife, Farideh, is the daughter of influential cleric Morteza Motahari. A foundational Islamic Republic ideologist, Motahari was assassinated in May 1979, shortly after the supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power.
Larijani’s children
Larijani’s son Morteza was reportedly killed in the March 16 airstrike alongside his father. Larijani’s other children are Mohammad Reza, Sara, and Fatemeh.
Fatemeh lived in the United States and worked at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, before she was dismissed from her position following an intense campaign by the Iranian diaspora over the bloody crackdown on protestors in January 2026.
Back in Iran, Mohammad Reza was a member of Saraj Mo’in Academy, an Islamic school for boys, according to business registry records.
The family connections of Larijani’s brothers
Larijani had four brothers: Sadeq, Baqer, Fazel, and Mohammad Javad. All five Larijani brothers held prominent political posts and have familial ties to other influential, regime-linked clans.
Sadeq Amoli Larijani, a former judiciary chief, is married to Grand Ayatollah Hossein Wahid Khorasani’s daughter. He was appointed head of the Expediency Council and one of the six clerical members of the Guardian Council by Ali Khamenei in December 2018.
Baqer Larijani is a physician. He is married to the late cleric Hasan Hasanzade Amoli’s (1927- 2021) daughter. Baqer’s scholarly publications state he was affiliated with Simon Fraser University, and was only recently expelled from Canada, according to Voice of America. Baqer has two children: Edris Ardeshirlarijani, who is a resident of Canada, and Aneseh Adeshirlarijaney, who lived in the United States and worked at Georgia State University (GSU), according to payroll documents and university records.
Fazel is the lesser-known Larijani brother who was also born in Najaf, Iraq. During his second presidential term, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Fazel of bribery. Fazel has two children, Tahoura and Sina, who both go by the last name Ardeshir. The family has reduced its online footprint since the recent diaspora campaigns. However, past news reports and other open-source information previously seen by Tehran Bureau suggest members of Fazel’s family continue to live in Canada, where Sina is a director at the Royal Bank of Canada in Vancouver, according to various posts on LinkedIn.
Mohammad Javad, also born in Najaf, Iraq, was an advisor to Ali Khamenei and formerly headed the human rights office of Iran’s judiciary branch. He is currently the head of the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, according to state-affiliated Jamaran News. His sons Ebrahim Ardeshir-Larijani and Hadi Larijani both live in the United Kingdom, according to Ebrahim’s LinkedIn profile and Hadi’s record at the University of Warwick.
Zeinab Ardeshir is, by some accounts, Mohammad Javad’s daughter, although some reports indicate she is Fazel’s third child. She lives in the United Kingdom and is the founder of an online pharmacy called Pill Sorted, according to the Companies House UK business registry. Mohammad Javad has at least one other daughter who is married to Mohammad Amin AqaMiri, the secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace. Aqamiri has been sanctioned by the United States Treasury.
One of Ali Larijani’s brothers-in-law, Ali Motahari, was a Tehran MP from 2008 to 2013. Aside from his political activities, Motahari invests in the publishing industry, in which he and his family own three companies: The Motahari Bonyad, which publishes and promotes the works of Motahari’s father, the late influential cleric Morteza Motahari; Sadra Publishing House, which publishes works written by Motahari himself; and Fajr Printing House, a company wholly owned by the Motahari family. Together, these three publishing houses employ most of Motahari’s relatives.