Iran keeps up attacks on neighbours as Israel says it killed two top officials
Israel said it killed two senior Iranian security officials in overnight strikes in a major blow to the country’s leadership.
Iran, which did not immediately confirm either death, fired salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbours and Israel on Tuesday in a war that showed no signs of abating.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were “eliminated last night”, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said.
Mr Larijani was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war.
Both men were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy’s 47-year rule.
The killings would strip Iran of important leaders during a war that presents that greatest test for the Islamic Republic in recent decades.
With concerns growing about a global energy crisis, Iran launched fresh attacks against several of its Gulf Arab neighboUrs and oil infrastructure throughout the region.
Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace, the second disruption to flights in the city in as many days.
An Iranian official said Tehran had no intention of relinquishing its tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said Nato and most other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the strait.
The Israeli military said it had begun a “wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran’s capital and was stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Mr Larijani, a former parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, advised the late Mr Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration.
He was sanctioned by the US Treasury in January for his role in “co-ordinating” Iran’s violent suppression nationwide protests.
General Soleimani was also sanctioned by the US, as well as by the European Union and other nations, over his role in helping suppress dissent for years through the Basij.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killings were aimed at weakening Iran’s government.
“We are undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it,” he said.
There have been no signs of anti-government protests since the war began, as many Iranians are sheltering from the American and Israeli strikes.
The reported killings of Mr Larijani and General Soleimani came on the eve of Chaharshanbe Souri, or the Festival of Fire, shortly before the Persian new year.
Authorities have sent threatening text messages urging the public not to celebrate the festival, warning that the normally rowdy celebrations could be used by “rioters”.
State media aired footage on Tuesday of pro-government demonstrations, including images of some men in plainclothes branding assault rifles and shotguns on the back of motorcycles — a sign of the government wanting to prevent renewed protests against the theocracy.
State television later showed crowds of women wrapped in black and older men waving flags and portraits of the killed former supreme leader.
Iran kept up the pressure on its neighbours and energy infrastructure around the region.
In Iraq, two drones were shot down by the defence system at the US Embassy in Baghdad, while a third drone crashed inside the embassy compound.
That is according to two Iraqi security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment.
An Associated Press journalist in the area saw a massive fire that appeared to be engulfing a structure in the compound.
There was no immediate comment from the embassy.
In the United Arab Emirates, an oil facility in Fujairah was hit, and a man was killed in Abu Dhabi by debris from an intercepted missile — the eighth person to die in the UAE since the start of the war, authorities said.
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted drones, while air defences could be heard targeting incoming fire over Qatar’s capital, Doha.
Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported, has sparked increasing concerns about a tightening of energy supplies that is unnerving the world economy.
A handful of ships have crossed through the strait, and Iran has said the waterway technically remains open — just not for the US, Israel and their allies.
About 20 vessels have been struck since the war began.
With oil prices rising, Mr Trump said he had demanded that roughly a half-dozen countries send warships to ensure ships can pass through the strait.
He fumed on Tuesday that the US is not getting support “despite the fact that almost every country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot” be allowed to secure a nuclear weapon.
The European Union’s top diplomat says the 27-nation bloc does not want to be dragged into the conflict with Iran.
“This is not Europe’s war,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told EU legislators on Tuesday.
“We were not consulted.”
French President Emmanuel Macron earlier reaffirmed that France is ready to help secure the strait, but only after heavy bombing has stopped.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military early on Tuesday said it had launched new attacks across Tehran and targeted Hezbollah militants in the Lebanese capital.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into the northern Israel after the US and Israel attacked Iran last month.
In Iran, it said it hit command centres, missile launch sites and air defence systems.
There was no immediate confirmation from Iran, where little information has been coming out due to internet outages, round-the-clock airstrikes and tight restrictions on journalists.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the start of the conflict, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
The Lebanese army said that three soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said that an airstrike near Beirut’s international airport killed one person and wounded nine, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Israel’s strikes have displaced more than one million Lebanese — or roughly 20% of the population — according to the Lebanese government, which says 912 people have been killed since the outbreak of a new Israel-Hezbollah war two weeks ago.
In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire.
At least 13 US military members have been killed.
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