Iran War Live Updates: Top Iranian Official Is Believed Killed, Israel Says

Ali Larijani, one of Iran’s most senior leaders, was killed in overnight strikes, Israel’s defense minister said. Iran did not immediately comment on the claim.

by Aaron BoxermanRonen Bergman and Aurelien Breeden

Israel believes that it has killed one of Iran’s most senior leaders, Ali Larijani, in overnight strikes on Tuesday, according to the Israeli defense minister.

The Israeli military said separately on Tuesday that it had killed Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij, the powerful Iranian plainclothes militia, dealing another blow to Iran’s top leadership.

Four Israeli military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, also said that they believed Mr. Larijani was dead. Iranian authorities and state media did not comment on the Israeli claims.

Mr. Larijani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was a close confidant of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader killed in an Israeli airstrike in the opening blow of the U.S.-Israeli air war in late February. He in effect ran Iran behind the scenes after Ayatollah Khamenei’s death, emerging as a prominent voice of Iranian defiance against the U.S.-Israeli attack.

Mr. Soleimani had led the Basij since 2019 and had faced U.S. and European sanctions for his role in the violent suppression of protests. The Basij, estimated to number at about one million, are affiliated with Iran’s most powerful military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and have played a central role in repressing demonstrations.

Iran pressed on with retaliatory attacks Tuesday on energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, sending the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, rising to nearly $104 a barrel. It has increased nearly 40 percent since the war began.

A tanker anchored near a port in the United Arab Emirates was hit by a projectile early Tuesday, the first strike on a ship in and around the Strait of Hormuz in five days. The tanker sustained minor damage after it was hit near the port of Fujairah, at the southern end of the strait, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a monitoring agency.

Iran has said that it will not allow oil shipments that benefit the United States and its allies to pass through the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil output normally flows. At least 17 vessels have been attacked in the region since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began Feb. 28.

On Monday, Mr. Trump disparaged U.S. allies who have declined to send warships to escort merchant ships and oil tankers through the strait. Germany, Japan, Italy, Australia and the European Union have said they would not participate in the U.S. effort to reopen the strait, while France, South Korea and Britain were noncommittal.

Here’s what else we are covering:

• U.S.-China relations: China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Beijing was “maintaining communication” with Washington about Mr. Trump’s visit to China, after he requested a postponement. On Sunday, Mr. Trump threatened to delay the meeting if China did not send its navy to help protect oil tankers in the Gulf. Read more

• Lebanon evacuations: The Israeli military again urged residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate north of the Zahrani River, saying it was attacking Hezbollah militants in that region. A day earlier, Israel’s defense minister had announced a “ground maneuver” in southern Lebanon, defying concerns over the consequences for civilians. More than a million people have fled their homes, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

• Death toll: At least 1,348 civilians in Iran have been killed since the start of the war, Iran’s U.N. representative told the Security Council last Wednesday, the latest figure the country has provided. In Lebanon, officials said that 886 people had been killed. In Israel, at least 12 people have been killed, according to the authorities. The Pentagon has said that 13 American service members have died since the start of the war.

• Iraq: The Iraqi Interior Ministry said that a drone hit Al Rasheed Hotel late Monday, inside the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad that houses government buildings and the U.S. embassy. No injuries or significant damage were reported. The embassy and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.