Israel Says It Killed Iranian Security Chief in Strike

Israel said it killed Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, escalating a regional war that even before this latest attack on Tehran’s leadership showed no sign of ending. Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, has been “eliminated” along with the commander of Iran’s paramilitary Basij unit, Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz said. His claim couldn’t be independently confirmed.

Larijani’s death would mark one of the highest-level losses for the Iranian leadership since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was targeted and killed by the US and Israel at the war’s outset on Feb. 28. Both sides continued to carry out attacks on Tuesday, the 18th day of the war, sending oil prices higher.

In Washington, a top US counterterrorism official resigned over the war, saying Israel misled US President Donald Trump into believing Iran posed an imminent threat. “I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran and who we are doing it for,” Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote in a letter addressed to Trump and posted on social media. More than 2,200 people have been killed in Iran and Lebanon by US and Israeli bombing, with dozens more fatalities across the Persian Gulf and in Israel resulting from Iranian retaliatory strikes.

Several nations have rebuffed Trump’s repeated appeals for help, including demands that traditional allies and even NATO send military vessels to help safeguard shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump lashed out on social media, calling the defensive alliance “a one way street—we will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need.” European and NATO officials have noted the US and Israel began the war, and that even if they chose to help, additional military assets might not have any effect.