A Red Crescent rescue team works next to a building that was damaged by a strike, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran on Tuesday.Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters
Israel said Tuesday it killed two senior Iranian security officials in a major blow aimed at further weakening the Islamic Republic’s leadership as it faces its greatest test in decades. Iran, which confirmed one killing, fired salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbours and Israel.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were “eliminated last night,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said. Larijani was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an air strike on the first day of the war.
The Iranian judiciary’s news agency, Mizan, quoted the Revolutionary Guard as confirming the killing of Soleimani.
Both men were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy’s 47-year rule.
What to know about the top Iranian officials reportedly killed by Israel
Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace, the second disruption to flights in the city in as many days as the war showed no signs of abating.
With concerns growing about a global energy crisis, 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.
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, who began firing rockets into the northern Israel after the joint U.S. and Israeli air strikes on Iran last month.
Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani in Beirut on Aug. 13, 2025.Bilal Hussein/The Associated Press
Larijani, a former parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, advised 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 “co-ordinating” Iran’s violent suppression of nationwide protests.
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.
The Israeli military said Tuesday that it struck more than 10 Basij posts across Tehran.
Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killings were aimed at “undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it.” There have been no signs of anti-government protests since the war began, as many Iranians are sheltering from the U.S. and Israeli strikes.
The reported killings of Larijani and 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 telling the public not to celebrate the festival, warning the rowdy celebrations could be used by “rioters.”
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 – signalling the government’s intent of preventing protests against the theocracy.
State television later showed crowds of women wrapped in black and older men waving flags and portraits of the late Khamenei.
Commander of Iran's Basij paramilitary force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, in Tehran on Nov. 18, 2019.Ebrahim Noroozi/The Associated Press
In Iraq, two drones were shot down by the U.S. Embassy’s defence 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.
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.
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.
Critical choke point
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps bases
Maritime
boundary
Tehran
IRAN
Bandar-e-Abbas
Larak Island
Bahrain:
HQ of U.S.
5th Fleet
Qeshm
Deepwater
shipping lane
IRAQ
IRAN
KUW.
OMAN
SAUDI
ARABIA
Strait of
Hormuz
U.A.E
Sirri
OMAN
Abu
Musa*
Jask
IRAN
U.A.E
Persian Gulf
Fujairah
Abu
Dhabi
UNITED
ARAB
EMIRATES
Shipping lanes are
2,700m wide, separated
by buffer zone
OMAN
40 km
*Occupied by Iran, claimed by U.A.E.
the globe and mail, Source: graphic news; iran
international; reuters
Critical choke point
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps bases
Maritime
boundary
Tehran
IRAN
Bandar-e-Abbas
Larak Island
Bahrain:
HQ of U.S.
5th Fleet
Qeshm
Deepwater
shipping lane
IRAQ
IRAN
KUW.
IRAN
SAUDI
ARABIA
Strait of
Hormuz
U.A.E
Sirri
OMAN
Abu
Musa*
Jask
IRAN
U.A.E
Persian Gulf
Fujairah
Abu
Dhabi
UNITED
ARAB
EMIRATES
Shipping lanes are
2,700m wide, separated
by buffer zone
OMAN
40 km
*Occupied by Iran, claimed by U.A.E.
the globe and mail, Source: graphic news; iran
international; reuters
Critical choke point
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval bases
Tehran
Maritime
boundary
Bandar-e-Abbas
Larak Island
IRAN
Qeshm
Deepwater
shipping lane
Bahrain:
HQ of U.S.
5th Fleet
IRAQ
IRAN
KUW.
SAUDI
ARABIA
Strait of
Hormuz
U.A.E
Sirri
OMAN
Abu
Musa*
Jask
IRAN
U.A.E
Persian Gulf
Fujairah
Abu
Dhabi
UNITED
ARAB
EMIRATES
Shipping lanes are
2,700m wide, separated
by buffer zone
OMAN
40 km
*Occupied by Iran, claimed by U.A.E.
the globe and mail, Source: graphic news; iran international; reuters
Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported, is sparking concerns about tightening energy supplies – 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 United States, Israel and their allies. About 20 vessels have been struck.
With oil prices rising, Trump said he had demanded that roughly a half-dozen countries send warships to ensure ships can pass through the strait.
European leaders rebuff Trump’s calls for military help in Strait of Hormuz
Trump fumed Tuesday that the U.S. 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,” Kaja Kallas told EU lawmakers. “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.
Lebanese army soldiers and police officers inspect a building that was targeted overnight by an Israeli air strike in Khalde, south of the Lebanese capital Beirut, on Tuesday.FADEL ITANI/AFP/Getty Images
The Israeli military said it hit Iran 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 air strikes and tight restrictions on journalists.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict started Feb. 28, 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 air strike 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 – roughly 20 per cent of the population – 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.
Top U.S. counterterrorism official Joe Kent resigns over war with Iran
A top U.S. counterterrorism official resigned Tuesday, citing concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran. Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s war.
His resignation reflects unease about the war within Trump’s political base just as midterm election races start to heat up. Trump’s MAGA coalition is splintering over what it sees as the president’s failure to keep his “America First” campaign promise by leading the U.S. into a war that is driving up gas prices.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said that he always thought Kent – the president’s pick to lead the counterterrorism centre – was “weak on security” and that if someone in his government did not believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those people.”