The director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, has announced his resignation, saying he “ cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s war in Iran. Kent said on social media that Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Earlier Tuesday, Israel’s defense minister said the Israeli military killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike. The Israeli military also announced it killed Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force.
Gulf Arab nations came under renewed missile and drone fire Tuesday from Iran, which has been targeting regional oil infrastructure and vowed not to relinquish its stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Israel also launched new strikes on Iran and Lebanon.
The war has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, more than 880 in Lebanon and 12 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The U.S. military says 13 U.S. service members have been killed and about 200 wounded.
Here is the latest:
More than three decades after Lindsey Graham first arrived in Washington, he has everything he could ever want. The senator from South Carolina has Trump’s ear, a war in Iran and a well-funded path to reelection.
Now it’s just a question of what those things will cost the Republican Party — and the rest of the United States — in this election year when control of Congress hangs in the balance. The conflict is already deeply unpopular with no clear endgame, as oil prices rise and fighting spreads throughout the Middle East.
But Graham, now running for a fifth term, defended pushing the U.S. toward war. “We haven’t underestimated Iran at all,” he said. “We’re crushing them.”
A spokesperson for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also did not immediately respond to questions about the resignation of Kent, who said Tuesday that the Trump administration started the war against Iran “due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Before entering Trump’s administration, Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington state. He also served in the military, seeing 11 deployments as a Green Beret, followed by work at the CIA.
Democrats strongly opposed Kent’s confirmation, pointing to his past promotion of conspiracy theories and ties to far-right figures including Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right military group the Proud Boys, and Joey Gibson, the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer. Democrats also grilled Kent on his participation in a group chat on Signal that was used by Trump’s national security team to discuss sensitive military plans.
The army said the soldiers were killed while riding on a motorcycle on the road linking the village of Zebdine with the southern city of Nabatiyeh.
The strike occurred hours after another airstrike killed one soldier and wounded four in the southern village of Kfar Sir.
Iran began airing footage of Tuesday's pro-government demonstrations on state television, which include images of some men in plainclothes branding assault rifles and shotguns on the back of motorcycles — a rarity in such demonstrations and a sign of the government wanting to warn any protesters off the streets.
“Chaharshanbe Souri,” or the Festival of Fire in Iran, is to be marked on Tuesday night. There had been some fears from authorities any gathering could spark new protests against the theocracy.
“Poland has other responsibilities within NATO,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.
“This applies to our land, air and naval forces, which are still, I would say, under development. The naval assets at our disposal must serve the security of the Baltic Sea,” he said. “And our allies, including the Americans, understand this very well.”
The United Arab Emirates reported a missile and drone attack Tuesday afternoon. The government urged residents to remain in safe locations.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said Tuesday’s strike hit on the old road of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.
Joe Kent, Director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, has resigned from the Trump administration.
Kent said he “cannot in good conscience” back Trump’s war in Iran.
Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent posted on social media Tuesday.
Kent is a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists who was confirmed to his post last July on a 52-44 vote.
The food charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés has 10 kitchens in different parts of Lebanon offering about 25,000 meals a day.
Since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, more than 1 million people, or about 20% of the country’s population, have been displaced.
The war this year comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when observant Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from before sunrise until sunset.
World Central Kitchen is providing iftar, or fast-breaking meals, that displaced people staying in schools or shelters can have after sunset.
“We are not only giving food. We are giving people hope and a smile,” World Central Kitchen member Aline Kamakian told The Associated Press Tuesday.
A missile alert sounded Tuesday afternoon in Dubai, warning people of incoming Iranian fire.
The Israeli military similarly said it detected an Iranian missile launch targeting their country.
Sirens sounded in Jerusalem.
Iranian hard-liners planned demonstrations late Tuesday afternoon in squares across the country, likely to counter any possible unrest as the country was set to celebrate its ancient fire festival.
The demonstrations were called to confront Israel and other enemies. Witnesses said in the Iranian capital, Tehran, there was a heavy security force presence around the Grand Bazaar, including heavy, truck-mounted machine guns being deployed.
“Chaharshanbe Souri,” or the Festival of Fire in Iran, is to be marked on Tuesday night. The festival comes in the hours just before the Wednesday before Nowruz, which is the Persian New Year. There had been some fears from authorities any gathering could spark new protests against the theocracy.
In a statement announcing the killings of Larijani and Soleimani, the Israeli leader said the attacks were aimed at weakening the government.
“We are undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it. It won’t happen quickly or easily, but if we persist, they will have the chance to take their destiny into their own hands,” he said.
The army announced Tuesday that the soldier who died was one of five troops wounded in an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Kfar Sir.
The Israeli military said the incident is under review and that they only target Hezbollah members, not Lebanese troops or civilians.
Humanitarian groups are bracing for crisis as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and its proxies displace millions across the Middle East, said International Organization for Migration Brussels director Lukas Gehrke.
In Lebanon, more than a million people are displaced, and about 100,000 people, mostly Syrians, have fled into Syria, where the IOM is expects 250,000 refugees might soon need food and medicine, he said.
Inside Iran, Gehrke said fighting has damaged about 55,000 civilian structures including 30,000 homes, pushing people to shelter within Iran, with IOM tracking more than half a million cars headed north. Meanwhile the war has disrupted global supply chains, and funding cuts have hit aid agencies hard.
“We need to keep in mind how far we can go with the available funds,” Gehrke said. “It’s certainly a big test for everybody.”
The World Food Program says the Middle East conflict is upending its supply chains like rarely before and could push 45 million more people into acute hunger if the war lasts through June. That would be up from 319 million today.
“This would take global hunger levels to an all-time record. And it’s a terrible, terrible prospect,” WFP deputy executive director Carl Skau told a U.N. briefing in Geneva.
Spiking food and fuel costs could price millions of families out of stable access to foods, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. As a result, he said the WFP could be “on the brink of the most severe disruption since Covid and the Ukraine war back in 2022.”
U.S. markets inched lower early Tuesday with a retreat in oil prices proving to be short-lived.
U.S. benchmark crude climbed 3.5% to $96.80 per barrel after dipping to about $93 on Monday, just its second decline since the Iran war began a little more than two weeks ago. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.2% to $103.43 a barrel.
And yet, the S&P 500 climbed 1% Monday for its biggest gain in five weeks. Markets have moved polar to oil prices, which have spiked almost 40% since the war nearly halted a fifth of the world’s oil supply. Markets have a track record of bouncing back relatively quickly from military conflicts. Many professional investors are expecting a repeat, if oil prices don’t go too high for too long. That has helped keep U.S. stock prices near record levels.
An Associated Press journalist in Qatar heard air defenses targeting incoming fire in Doha, the country’s capital, on Tuesday afternoon.
The United Arab Emirates says its air defenses responded to 10 ballistic missiles and 45 drones Iran fired Tuesday at the Gulf country.
Israel’s military said it began new airstrikes Tuesday targeting Iran’s capital, Tehran.
A tanker anchored off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates was hit by debris early Tuesday morning as the nation came under several waves of Iranian attacks.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, run by the British military, reported the incident, saying the vessel was in the Gulf of Oman off Fujairah. It said the tanker sustained “minor structural damage” and no one was hurt.
The UKMTO later said it appeared falling debris from an interception hit the tanker, rather than the tanker being targeted itself.
Since the Iran war started, some 20 vessels in the region have come under attack as the Iranian fire effectively halts traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil and natural gas trade passes.
China is offering emergency humanitarian assistance to Iran and three other countries because of the war. “The ongoing conflict has caused a grave humanitarian disaster for the people of regional countries, including Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in Beijing.
He did not provide any details on the amount or nature of the assistance.
China earlier said it would provide $200,000 to support the parents of the students killed in a missile strike that hit an elementary school in Iran.
Israel’s military warned of a new barrage of missile fire from Iran on Tuesday, with air defenses firing and explosions heard.
Albania’s Parliament adopted a resolution Tuesday declaring Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, with 79 lawmakers from Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party voting in favor of the measure.
The resolution also labels Iran a state sponsor of terrorism.
Taulant Balla, head of the Socialist parliamentary group, said the resolution aims to denounce state support for terrorism, the use of proxy groups for destabilization and hybrid tactics including cyberattacks on sovereign institutions.
“For Albania, this is not just a distant geopolitical issue,” Balla said, noting it has been a target of cyberattacks.
Albania blamed Iran’s Foreign Ministry for a July 2022 cyberattack that disrupted government information technology systems and shut down online public services for several days.
Officials said the attack was likely retaliation for Albania hosting members of an Iranian opposition group. Albania’s government then severed diplomatic ties with Iran.
The Red Cross says civilians in Iran are paying “a heavy price” as the U.S. and Israel war against the Islamic Republic shows no sign of abating.
Vincent Cassard, head of the Red Cross delegation in Iran, said the war has placed “heavy strain” on Iranians.
“The heavy loss of life is alarming,” he said. “Daily life in Tehran has been profoundly disrupted.”
He said damaged schools and hospitals, as well as facilities of the Iranian Red Crescent, show “the heavy price that civilians are paying as a result of hostilities.”
Israel says it killed Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, in a combat tent alongside other Basij commanders.
They were using the tent as makeshift headquarters due to concerns their regular bases could be targeted, according to an Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines.
Two Palestinians were killed Tuesday by an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
The strike hit a vehicle in the Muwasi, a tent camp area west of the southern city of Khan Younis, the Red Crescent said in a statement.
Twelve others were wounded in the strike and taken to a hospital run by the Red Crescent in Khan Younis, it said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
A Pakistani national was killed by falling debris in Abu Dhabi following the interception of an incoming missile, Pakistan’s embassy said.
It was the third announced death of a Pakistan national in the Emirates since the start of the war.
Israeli defense minister said Tuesday that the Israeli military killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike.
The Israeli military also announced it killed Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force.
Iranian state media did not immediately confirm either death. However, it said a message from Larijani’s office would be published shortly.
The killings again strip away top leaders from the Iranian theocracy after the Feb. 28 strike that killed 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Larijani and the Basij commander were eliminated last night and have joined Khamenei, the head of the annihilation program, along with all those eliminated from the axis of evil in the depths of hell,” Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, said in a statement.
Two medics were injured when shrapnel fell on an ambulance center in Kuwait during an attack on the Gulf nation, authorities said.
The Health Ministry said the injured were taken to a hospital and they are in stable condition.
The killing of Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani comes on the eve of “Chaharshanbe Souri,” or the Festival of Fire in Iran on Tuesday night.
The festival comes in the hours just before the Wednesday before Nowruz, which is the Persian New Year.
To celebrate, people light bonfires, set off fireworks and send wish lanterns floating off into the night sky. Others jump over and around fires, chanting “My yellow is yours, your red is mine,” invoking the replacement of ills with warmth and energy.
Authorities already have sent threatening text messages to the public, urging them not to take part in the festival, worried it could lead to renewed protests against the theocracy as it faces likely the greatest challenge to its survival since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who had drawn people into the streets during nationwide protests in January, issued a warning Monday saying Iranian authorities “issued threats of deadly force to suppress these peaceful celebrations and prevent the Iranian people from honoring their heritage.”
He earlier urged demonstrations in front of Iranian embassies abroad on Tuesday.
The Israeli military said Tuesday it killed Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani in a strike on Monday.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge Soleimani’s killing.
The all-volunteer force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is used to suppress demonstrations in the country.
“The Basij forces are part of the armed apparatus of the Iranian terror regime,” the Israeli military said in its statement. “During internal protests in Iran, particularly in recent periods as demonstrations intensified, Basij forces under Soleimani’s command led the main repression operations, employing severe violence, widespread arrests, and the use of force against civilian demonstrators.”
The U.S. Treasury listed Soleimani’s birth year as 1965. He has been sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and other nations over his role in helping suppress dissent for years through the Basij.
Bahrain has reported Tuesday that it has been targeted by more drone attacks from Iran.
The country's Defense Ministry tallied 129 missiles and 233 drones fired toward the country since the start of the war. It’s an increase of nine drones since Monday.
Lebanon's army said five of its soldiers were hurt after the Tuesday morning airstrike on the village of Kfar Sir.
Two of the five soldiers were seriously wounded.
The army said the troops were hurt while traveling in a car and a motorcycle. They were all taken to hospital for treatment.
Iran and Iraq are holding talks about allowing transit of Iraq’s oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani said Tuesday.
The comments were carried by the country’s state-run Iraqi News Agency.
The war and the virtual closure of the strait have severely impacted Iraq, where the economy depends overwhelmingly on oil.
The news agency said Iraq’s oil production has been reduced to 1.2 million barrels daily, down from 4.3 million barrels daily prior to the war.
China is communicating with the U.S. about issues including a planned visit by President Donald Trump, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.
“China and the U.S. are in communication on issues including the timing of President Trump’s visit to China,” Lin Jian said in Beijing.
Trump on Monday said because of the war he proposed a delay to the trip, which was scheduled for late March to early April.
Lin added that U.S. officials clarified “the visit is unrelated to the issue of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Trump told the Financial Times that he would like to know before leaving for Beijing whether China would help secure the strait.
A U.S. trade official on Monday walked back the statement, saying a postponement would be unrelated to China’s help in the strait.
