Iran war: Israel says Iran security chief, Basij head killed

Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the US, said he has decided to resign from his position.

"I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby," Kent said in a post on X. 

Kent said it has been "an honor" serving under US President Donald Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.  

"I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for," Kent said in his resignation letter addressed to Trump. "You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further towards decline and chaos. You hold the cards."

Kent is a close ally to Tulsi Gabbard, and previously served as her acting chief of staff. Gabbard has previously expressed opposition to "regime change" wars and had made that topic a central plank of her platform during her failed run for president in 2020.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killing of top Iranian security official Ali Larijani could be another step in allowing Iranians to rise up against their government.

"This morning we eliminated Ali Larijani, the boss of the Revolutionary Guards, which is the gang of gangsters that actually runs Iran," Netanyahu said. 

Netanyahu said an uprising against the government "will not happen all at once, it will not happen easily. But if we persist in this — we will give them a chance to take their fate into their own hands."

Iran has not yet confirmed the death of Larijani.  

Israeli claims of having killed Ali Larijani are yet to be confirmed by outside sources or acknowledged by the regime in Tehran, but who is the 67-year-old scretary of the Supreme National Security Council? 

Larijani is part of a family of senior clerics that "Time" magazine once referred to as the "Kennedys of Iran."

However, unlike many of his close relatives, he did not seek a route to power via the religious ranks as an ayatollah. 

Instead, Larijani went first into the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp, before going on to study philosophy and move into politics, starting off as culture minister before rising through various roles.

As such, he was never eligible to succeed Ayatollah Khamenei, given his lack of religious qualifications, but he was seen as the de facto top dog in the aftermath of the US and Israeli strikes at the end of Feburary that killed much of Iran's senior leadership. 

For more information, read this deep dive by DW's Darko Janjevic, written earlier this month. 

Over 800,000 people have reportedly been displaced in Lebanon as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies. Some fear this is only the start. DW met families living on the streets and in makeshift shelters.

The Qatari Ministry of Defense said has "successfully intercepted" a missile attack, the second time so far today. 

Qatar has been frequently targeted by Iranian attacks since the start of the US-Israeli operation against Iran on February 28. 

Qatar is home to the Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US base in the Middle East region.  

The United Nations World Food Programme has warned that an additional 45 million people might be facing hunger if the conflict in the Middle East continues.

"If the Middle East conflict continues through June, an additional 45 million people could be pushed into acute hunger by price rises," Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of the UN's World Food Programme, told a press conference in Geneva.

"This would take global hunger levels to an all-time record, and it's a terrible, terrible prospect," he said, with 319 million people around the world currently acutely food insecure.

Skau said its shipping costs have spiked by 18% ​since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28.

The extra costs were coupled with heavy spending cuts as donors spend more on defense, Skau said.

Germany backs its allies — yet questions are growing. As strikes escalate and prices rise, Friedrich Merz faces a legal, political, and economic tightrope. What's at stake for Germany?

The Lebanese army said one of its soldiers were killed and four others injured in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon. The soldier who died succumbed to his injuries. 

The attack occurred near the city of Nabatieh when they were struck, the army said. The soldiers were in a car and on a motorcycle when the strike occurred, and were wearing military uniforms. 

Israel said it is looking into the incident. 

Israel is currently launching airstrikes and a "limited" ground operation in Lebanon against Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah. 

Hezbollah is a political party and paramilitary organization, which is deemed a terror organization by Israel and several other countries. Hezbollah emerged in 1982 during the Lebanese civil war and has been equipped and trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

The Lebanese army is not an active party to the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.    

Loading of oil at the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah was disrupted on Tuesday following an attack and subsequent fire at the export terminal, as Iran pressed on with missile and drone strikes on Gulf countries.

Local authorities said that no injuries had been reported in the attack, which was the third in four days.

News agencies reported that loading of crude oil was suspended at the facility, citing sources familiar with the situation.

Operations at the Shah gas field — located 180 km (111.85 miles) southwest of Abu ⁠Dhabi — remained suspended following an earlier drone strike.

The UAE's other export hubs lie within the Gulf, which has been effectively cut off from ​global markets by Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, ​through which a fifth of the world's oil supply normally flowed.

The Gulf has borne the brunt of Iran's response to the joint US-Israeli strikes that sparked the current war, with Tehran targeting US assets in the region, including civilian infrastructure.

Ali Larijani's X and Telegram accounts posted a handwritten note regarding Iranian sailors who were killed in a US torpedo attack at sea. 

The note says the memory of the sailors "shall forever remain in the heart of the Iranian nation."  

The post, however, does not confirm Larijani's death, as has been claimed by Israel. It's unclear when the note, in what is assumed to be Larijani's writing, was produced.  

Iraq's Oil Minister, Hayyan Abdul-Ghani, has said the Iraqi government is in contact with Iran about allowing some of its oil tankers to travel through the Strait of Hormuz, 

according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA) public broadcaster.

Global shipping traffic has come to a near-standstill in the vital channel due to the war and the threat of Iranian attacks.

Around a fifth of the world's oil shipments pass through the Strait off the coast of Iran.

Meanwhile, the price of oil jumped more than 5% amid concerns over the safe passage of cargo ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

At around 06:15 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 5.16% at $98.32 a barrel while Brent Crude also rose above 5% before easing back.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that top Iranian security official Ali Larijani has been killed in a strike overnight.

Iran has not confirmed Larijani's death. 

Who is Ali Larijani?

Larijani is the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council in Iran, which oversees coordination on defense and foreign policy. 

Larijani is believed to be the main figure behind the Iranian government's violent crackdown on protesters earlier this year.  

The Israeli military has claimed it has killed Basij head Gholamreza Soleimani in a strike.

"Yesterday (Monday), the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, targeted and eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, who operated as commander of the Basij unit for the past six years," the Israeli military said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). 

Iran has not yet confirmed the killing of Soleimani. 

The Basij is an all-volunteer division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which polices the Iranian population on behalf of the clerical regime.

The paramilitary group of often poor, highly devout citizens have enforced morality rules such as headscarf wearing for women and also seek to quell any potential uprising or riots against the government. 

Here is a recap of the main developments so far on Tuesday:

• Israel's military says 'wide-scale wave of strikes' launched against regime targets in Tehran
• Qatar says a missile attack was intercepted amid reports of explosions in Doha
• Falling shrapnel has killed a Pakistani national in Abu Dhabi
• The US Embassy in Baghdad has been targeted by rockets and drones, according to security sources
• President Donald Trump is 'strongly' encouraging more US allies to help keep Strait of Hormuz open
• Trump has warned the NATO alliance could be at risk if no help comes to unblock the Strait
• Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz is 'gravely concerned' over escalating violence in Lebanon, urges against Israeli ground offensive
• Other Western leaders have also voiced concerns over a potential ground invasion of Lebanon
• Lebanon's government says there are more than 1 million internally displaced people since the conflict began less than three weeks ago

Beijing has announced that it will provide emergency humanitarian assistance to four Middle East nations impacted by the war in the region: Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. 

"It is hoped this will help alleviate the humanitarian plight faced by the local populations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told journalists. "China will continue to make every effort to promote peace and stop the war... and to prevent further spreading of the humanitarian crisis."    

China, an ally of Iran, is urging de-escalation in the region and has dispatched its special envoy for Middle East affairs, Jun Zhai, on a diplomatic tour this month in a bid to reduce tensions.

Jun recently visited Saudi Arabia and met with the Saudi Arabian foreign minister to discuss the crisis.  

Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi has said the war "should never have happened."