{"id":529622,"date":"2026-03-17T22:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/529622\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T22:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:55:12","slug":"israel-killed-two-top-iranian-security-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/529622\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel killed two top Iranian security officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Israel killed two senior Iranian security officials<\/a> in a major blow to the Islamic Republic\u2019s leadership as it faces its greatest test in decades, and Iran responded Wednesday with renewed missile and drone attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel.<\/p>\n

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council, was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a> was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war<\/a>. Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani was the head of the Revolutionary Guard\u2019s all-volunteer Basij. <\/p>\n

\"Ali<\/p>\n

\n Ali Larijani, center, head of Iran’s National Security Council, gestures as Hezbollah supporters throw rice to welcome him outside Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo\/Bilal Hussein, File)\n <\/p>\n

Ali Larijani, center, head of Iran’s National Security Council, gestures as Hezbollah supporters throw rice to welcome him outside Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo\/Bilal Hussein, File)<\/p>\n

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\"Commander<\/p>\n

\n Commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)\n <\/p>\n

Commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)<\/p>\n

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Iran confirmed the killings of both men, who were key to Iran\u2019s violent crackdown on protests in January<\/a> that challenged the theocracy\u2019s 47-year rule.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s military said Iran launched another round of missiles toward Israel on Wednesday. Sirens sounded across central Israel and loud booms were heard in Tel Aviv as the war showed no signs of abating<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Fire<\/p>\n

Fire and plumes of smoke rise after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

Fire and plumes of smoke rise after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

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With concerns growing about a global energy crisis<\/a>, 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. <\/p>\n

President Donald Trump said NATO and most other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the strait.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military said it had begun a \u201cwide-scale wave of strikes\u201d across Iran\u2019s capital and was stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Israel says killings are to undermine Iranian regime<\/p>\n

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Larijani and Soleimani \u201cwere eliminated\u201d in strikes overnight Tuesday. The Israeli military said it also struck more than 10 Basij posts across Tehran.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killings were aimed at \u201cundermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it.\u201d There have been no signs of anti-government protests since the war began, as many Iranians are sheltering from the American and Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n

The Iranian judiciary\u2019s news agency, Mizan, quoted the Revolutionary Guard as confirming the killing of Soleimani. Other Iranian state media confirmed Larijani\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Larijani, a former parliamentary speaker, was a senior policy adviser to the late Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January for his role \u201ccoordinating\u201d Iran\u2019s violent suppression of nationwide protests<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Soleimani was also sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and other nations, over his role in suppressing dissent for years through the Basij.<\/p>\n

The killings of the top officials came on the eve of \u201cChaharshanbe Souri,\u201d or the Festival of Fire, shortly before the Persian new year. Authorities have sent threatening text messages telling the public not to turn out for the festival, warning the celebrations could be used by \u201crioters.\u201d<\/p>\n

State media aired footage Tuesday of pro-government demonstrations, including images of men in plainclothes brandishing assault rifles and shotguns on the back of motorcycles.<\/p>\n

State television showed crowds of women wrapped in black and older men waving flags and portraits of the late Khamenei.<\/p>\n

Iranian strikes pressure neighbors and oil markets<\/p>\n

In Iraq, two drones were shot down by the U.S. Embassy\u2019s defense system in Baghdad, while a third drone crashed inside the compound, according to two Iraqi security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.<\/p>\n

An Associated Press journalist saw a massive fire that appeared to be engulfing a structure in the compound. There was no immediate comment from the embassy.<\/p>\n

In the United Arab Emirates, explosions rang out early Wednesday morning in Dubai, followed by a missile alert. The government\u2019s Dubai Media Office said \u201cthe sounds heard across parts of the city\u201d were the successful interceptions by air defense operations. <\/p>\n

Earlier Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace, the second disruption to flights in the city in as many days. Also an oil facility in Fujairah was hit, and a man was killed in Abu Dhabi by debris from an intercepted missile \u2014 the eighth person to die in the UAE since the start of the war, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia said it intercepted drones, while air defenses could be heard targeting incoming fire over Qatar\u2019s capital, Doha.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil is transported, is sparking concerns about tightening energy supplies \u2014 unnerving the world economy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A handful of ships have crossed through the strait, and Iran has said the waterway technically remains open \u2014 just not for the United States, Israel and their allies. About 20 vessels have been struck.<\/p>\n

With oil prices rising, Trump said he had demanded<\/a> that roughly a half-dozen countries send warships to ensure ships can pass through the strait.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Volunteers<\/p>\n

Volunteers clean debris from a residential building damaged when a nearby police station was hit Friday in a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n

Volunteers clean debris from a residential building damaged when a nearby police station was hit Friday in a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n

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Trump fumed Tuesday that the U.S. is not getting support \u201cdespite the fact that almost every country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot\u201d be allowed to secure a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n

The European Union\u2019s top diplomat says the 27-nation bloc does not want to be dragged into the conflict with Iran. \u201cThis is not Europe\u2019s war,\u201d Kaja Kallas told EU lawmakers. \u201cWe were not consulted.\u201d<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron earlier reaffirmed that France is ready to help secure the strait, but only after heavy bombing has stopped.<\/p>\n

Israel launches new attacks on Tehran and steps up strikes on Beirut<\/p>\n

The Israeli military said it hit Iran command centers, missile launch sites and air defense 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.<\/p>\n

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict started Feb. 28, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.<\/p>\n

The Lebanese army said that three soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes. The Lebanese Health Ministry said that an airstrike near Beirut\u2019s international airport killed one person and wounded nine, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese \u2014 roughly 20% of the population \u2014 according to the Lebanese government, which says 912 people have been killed. In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.<\/p>\n

Top US counterterrorism official quits over Iran war <\/p>\n

A top U.S. counterterrorism official resigned<\/a> Tuesday, citing concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran. Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said he \u201ccannot in good conscience\u201d back the Trump administration\u2019s war.<\/p>\n

His resignation reflects unease about the war within Trump\u2019s political base just as midterm election races start to heat up. Trump\u2019s MAGA coalition is splintering over what it sees as the president\u2019s failure to keep his \u201cAmerica First\u201d campaign promise by leading the U.S. into a war that is driving up gas prices. <\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters, Trump said that he always thought Kent \u2014 the president\u2019s pick to lead the counterterrorism center \u2014 was \u201cweak on security\u201d and that if someone in his government did not believe Iran was a threat, \u201cwe don\u2019t want those people.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Rising reported from Bangkok, Corder from The Hague, Netherlands, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Koral Saeed in Herzliya, Israel; and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Israel killed two senior Iranian security officials in a major blow to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[180119,197013,5620,4,450,28,12,16777,5607,6659,793,451,801,1570,228242,803,1569,238064,55437,1575,1576,3,98700,111,3775,2229,3776,452,453,800,1681,965],"class_list":["post-529622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-ali-khamenei","tag-ali-larijani","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-drones","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-fires","tag-general-news","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-iran-government","tag-iran-war","tag-israel","tag-israel-government","tag-joe-kent","tag-kaja-kallas","tag-mideast-wars","tag-military-and-defense","tag-news","tag-political-and-civil-unrest","tag-politics","tag-protests-and-demonstrations","tag-religion","tag-sanctions-and-embargoes","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-washington-news","tag-waterways","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}