Iran launched a new attack on Israel, Gulf neighbors after the assassination of 2 top leaders
Iran launched a new wave of strikes on its Persian Gulf neighbors and Israel on Wednesday, using some of its latest missiles to evade military defenses and kill two people near Tel Aviv, as the Middle East war showed no signs of abating.
Israel’s Defense Minister said that their forces killed Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.
Israel Katz announced Khatib’s killing and said “great surprises are expected throughout this day from all sides,” without elaborating.
Khatib’s killing follows Israel’s killing on Tuesday of Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer force Basij.
In Iran, the Bushehr nuclear power plant was hit by a projectile but there was no damage and the plant was not damaged, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said after receiving a report from Tehran. The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, reiterated his call for “greater restraint during conflict to prevent the risk of a nuclear accident.”
Since the US and Israel attacked Iran to start the war on Feb. 28, Iran has been targeting its Gulf Arab neighbors’ energy infrastructure, as well as military bases, as part of a strategy to raise oil prices and pressure Washington to back down.
The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration says that around three million Iranians have been displaced since the start of the war with the US and Israel three weeks ago. The UN agency says that the people of Tehran now fall into two groups: those who cannot escape to the countryside and those who are forced to stay in the city.
Iran has also shown no signs of relinquishing its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane through which a fifth of the world’s oil flows, raising concerns about a global energy crisis.
The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, remained stubbornly above $100 US per barrel in early trading on Wednesday, up more than 40 percent since the war began.
Meanwhile, Israel has killed at least 10 people in its latest strikes in Lebanon, which have hit several apartments in Beirut.
Law enforcement officials in Iran say that a man has been sentenced for being a spy for the Israeli Mossad agency. The judiciary’s Mizan news agency identified him as Kourosh Keyvani and alleged that he had “provided images and information about sensitive areas” to Israel.
Activists and rights groups have warned since Iran’s nationwide protests in January that the country could begin mass killings. Iran has violently suppressed the protests with violence that has killed thousands and seen tens of thousands arrested.
Later on Wednesday, Mizan said that the judicial complex in Larestan, a province in the south of Fars, was hit by an airstrike during work, blaming the US and Israel. It said workers and civilians were killed and injured but “the exact number is still unknown.”
US President Donald Trump also criticized NATO for not helping in the Strait of Hormuz on a day when his top counter-terrorism officer resigned over the Middle East war and two other senior Iranian leaders were confirmed dead.
Iran on Wednesday attacked the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, which is home to many oil fields, as well as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the bomb caused a small fire in his compound in the UAE near Dubai but no one was injured. His comments appeared to coincide with explosions heard near Al Minhad Air Base, which is used by the West as a transit hub in the wider Mideast.
Missile alerts were later heard in Dubai as the sound of rocket launchers exploding could be heard across the city.
Saudi Arabia fired a missile that targeted the Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts American forces and aircraft, and two coalition aircraft targeting the Riyadh compound, which houses the American Embassy and other foreign bodies.
Iran has vowed to continue to block shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, from the Persian Gulf to the open sea. Since the start of the conflict, several ships have passed with their goods – some of which were Iranian, but also from India, Turkey and elsewhere – and Iran insists that the waterway is open, not to the US or many of its allies.
The US Central Command said the US military fired multiple bombs up to 5,000 pounds deep on Tuesday at Iranian missile sites along the Iranian coast near the river.
US President Donald Trump, who has been growing frustrated that no allies have come forward after he said he wants others to send ships to help reopen the strait, wrote on social media on Tuesday that “WE DON’T NEED ANYONE’S HELP!”
Iran fires ballistic missiles
In response to Israel’s killing of Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and one of the country’s most powerful figures, the Republican Guard said on Wednesday it was targeting the center of Israel with missiles with multiple warheads, which have a greater chance of evading missile defense systems and can complement radar tracking systems.
Israel reported at least two incidents of incoming fire and health officials in that country said two people died in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the military fired Khorramshahr-4 and Qadr multi-warhead missiles in retaliation for Larijani’s killing. Images captured by the Associated Press showed at least a cluster of missiles being fired over Israel.
Larijani, a former speaker of the parliament, was a senior policy advisor to the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration. He was blacklisted by the US Treasury Department in January for his role in “coordinating” Iran’s crackdown on violent protests across the country.
Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, head of the Revolutionary Guard’s Basij, was also killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday. Soleimani has been punished by the US, the European Union and other nations, due to his role in suppressing tensions for years using the Basij.
The American Embassy in Baghdad also began to be criticized for the second day in a row on Wednesday morning, said two security officials in Iraq, who did not want to reveal their names because they were not authorized to comment.
Pro-Iran militia groups have been regularly attacking American targets in Iraq since the start of the war. On Tuesday, a small plane crashed into the embassy in Baghdad.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict began on February 28, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
In Lebanon, 912 people have been killed by Israeli strikes, according to the Ministry of Health. In Israel, 14 people were killed by Iranian missile fire, local authorities said. The US has said at least 13 of its soldiers have been killed in the ongoing fighting so far.
