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Israel Kills Another Top Iran Official 03/18 06:20
Israel said Wednesday it killed another top Iranian official, the third in
two days, while Iran lashed out with attacks on its Persian Gulf neighbors and
Israel, using some of its latest missiles to evade air defenses and killing two
people near Tel Aviv as the war in the Middle East showed no signs of slowing.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Israel said Wednesday it killed another
top Iranian official, the third in two days, while Iran lashed out with attacks
on its Persian Gulf neighbors and Israel, using some of its latest missiles to
evade air defenses and killing two people near Tel Aviv as the war in the
Middle East showed no signs of slowing.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iranian Intelligence Minister
Esmail Khatib had been killed in an overnight strike and promised that
"significant surprises are expected throughout this day on all fronts," without
elaborating.
Iran did not immediately confirm Khatib's death. Israel killed top Iranian
security official Ali Larijani and the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary
Guard's Basij force on Tuesday.
In Lebanon, Israel kept up its intense pressure with strikes it said
targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, hitting multiple apartment buildings
in Beirut and killing at least a dozen people.
In Iran, the Bushehr nuclear power plant complex was hit by a projectile the
night before but there were no injuries and the plant suffered no damage, the
International Atomic Energy Agency said after receiving a report from Tehran.
The IAEA chief Rafael Grossi reiterated his call "for maximum restraint during
the conflict to prevent risk of a nuclear accident."
Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran to start the war on Feb.
28, Iran has been targeting the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab
neighbors, as well as military bases, as part of a strategy to drive up oil
prices and put pressure on Washington to back down.
Tehran also is keeping up its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the
shipping lane through which a fifth of the world's oil transits, giving rise to
growing concerns of a global energy crisis.
The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, remained
stubbornly over $100 per barrel in early trading Wednesday, up more than 40%
from the start of the war.
Iran execution and casualties
Iran executed a man on charges of spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence
agency, according to the judiciary's Mizan news agency. Wednesday's report
identified him as Kourosh Keyvani and alleged he "provided images and
information on sensitive locations" to Israel.
Later in the day, Mizan said an airstrike hit a courthouse complex in
Larestan, a county in southern Fars province, and that at least eight people
were killed.
Iran strikes Gulf countries
Iran attacked Saudi Arabia's vast Eastern Province, home to many of its oil
fields, as well as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on
Wednesday.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a projectile caused a small
fire at its base in the UAE near Dubai but caused no injuries. Explosions were
heard near Al Minhad Air Base, used by Western nations as a transit hub for the
wider Mideast.
Missile alerts sounded again later in Dubai as interceptors exploded
overhead across the city-state.
Saudi Arabia shot down a ballistic missile targeting the area of the Prince
Sultan Air Base, which hosts American forces and aircraft, and two drones
targeting Riyadh's diplomatic quarter, which houses the U.S. Embassy and other
foreign missions.
Iran has vowed to continue to throttle shipping traffic through the Strait
of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Since the war
started, a few ships have gotten through -- some Iranian, but also vessels from
India, Turkey and elsewhere. Iran insists the waterway is open, just not to the
U.S. or many of its allies.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been growing increasingly frustrated
that no allies have stepped forward after he asked others to send ships to help
open the strait again, posted on social media Tuesday that "WE DON'T NEED THE
HELP OF ANYONE!"
Iraq, which suspended operations at its main oil terminal on the Persian
Gulf last week when the Basra port was attacked, said Wednesday it had reached
an agreement with the autonomous northern Iraqi Kurdish administration. The Oil
Ministry said it will begin exporting 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day from
Kirkuk via a pipeline north to Turkey's Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean Sea.
Saudia Arabia is also already bypassing the Strait of Hormuz by sending some
of its oil by pipeline across the country to be shipped from a Red Sea port.
Iran launches multiple-warhead missiles at Israel
Responding to Israel's killing of Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme
National Security Council and one of the country's most powerful figures, the
paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday it had targeted central Israel
with multiple-warhead missiles, which have an increased chance of evading
missile defense systems and can overwhelm radar tracking systems.
Iran's Guard said the force launched the Khorramshahr-4 and Qadr
multiple-warhead missiles to avenge Larijani's killing. Footage filmed by The
Associated Press showed at least one missile releasing cluster munitions over
Israel.
Israel said two people were killed in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv.
Larijani was a senior policy adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration. Larijani was
sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January for his role "coordinating" Iran's
violent suppression of nationwide protests.
Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard's Basij
militia, was also killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday. Soleimani was
sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and other nations, over his role in
suppressing dissent for years through the Basij.
Khatib, the intelligence chief, had ben sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 on
allegations his ministry had been "engaging in cyber-enabled activities against
the United States and its allies."
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad also came under fire for the second day in a row
early Wednesday, two Iraqi security officials said, speaking on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to comment. Pro-Iran militia groups
have been regularly attacking American targets in Iraq since the war started.
Renewed Israeli strikes in Lebanon
Israel flattened an apartment building in central Beirut about an hour after
issuing an evacuation notice -- the fourth time the building was targeted.
Israel's military claimed it was being used by Hezbollah to store "millions of
dollars intended to finance its activities," without providing evidence.
Overall, 10 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut,
according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Another two people were killed in an
airstrike in Lebanon's western Bekaa valley, it said.
Among those killed in Beirut was a journalist with Hezbollah's AL-Manar TV,
the broadcaster said. Al-Manar said the head of its political program Mohammed
Sherri was killed along with his wife, and that his children and grandchildren
were wounded.
The Israeli army also said it had launched a wave of strikes targeting
Hezbollah in southern Lebanon "in response to firing into Israeli territory."
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Israeli strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese -- roughly 20%
of the population -- according to the Lebanese government, which says 912
people have been killed and 2,221 wounded. In Israel, 14 people have been
killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been
killed.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict started
Feb. 28, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
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