Israel’s military said it killed two senior Iranian security officials in overnight strikes, escalating a conflict that Iran described as its greatest test in decades, and the response quickly spread beyond Israel’s borders. Iran said it launched renewed missile and drone attacks Wednesday aimed at Gulf Arab neighbors as well as Israel, while U.S. officials described air and missile strikes tied to the security of regional waterways.
Israel’s defense minister said Ali Larijani and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani “were eliminated” in the strikes, and the Israeli military said it also struck more than 10 Basij posts across Tehran. Netanyahu said the killings were aimed at “undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it.” The claims came as Iranian state media and the judiciary news agency Mizan quoted the Revolutionary Guard as confirming Soleimani’s death and reported Larijani’s death.
Iran’s response included what it described as multiple-warhead missiles aimed at central Israel. The Associated Press reported footage showing the release of cluster munitions from at least one missile over Israel, and a Revolutionary Guard statement said the force launched the Khorramshahr-4 and Qadr multiple-warhead missiles to avenge Larijani’s killing. Israel’s medical service said two people were killed in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv.
Regional air defense systems intercepted barrages fired at multiple Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait among those hit. Separately, an Iranian official said Tehran had no intention of relinquishing its tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a large share of global oil shipments. The AP reported that only a few ships had crossed, that Iran said the waterway technically remained open but not for the United States, Israel and their allies, and that about 20 vessels had been struck.
The U.S. military said it fired multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator bombs Tuesday on Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz. The timing followed President Donald Trump’s comment that NATO and most other allies had rejected his calls to help secure the strait, and U.S. actions were described alongside new regional and European diplomatic signals to avoid widening involvement.
In Europe, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, told lawmakers that the 27-nation bloc did not want to be dragged into the conflict with Iran and said, “This is not Europe’s war.” The same day, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it received a report from Iran that the Bushehr nuclear power plant complex had been hit by a projectile; the IAEA said there were no injuries and no damage, while reiterating the call by its director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, “for maximum restraint during the conflict to prevent risk of a nuclear accident.”
The conflict’s ripple effects also reached Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere. In Baghdad, two Iraqi security officials told AP they said a strike hit inside the U.S. Embassy compound early Wednesday, and they said there was no immediate statement from the State Department; they spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment. In Lebanon, Israeli strikes continued against Hezbollah militants, with the Lebanese health ministry reporting at least six people killed and 24 wounded in strikes in central Beirut early Wednesday, and additional fatalities and injuries in the Nabatiyeh district.
The Associated Press reported that Israel’s strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese, and that more than 900 people have been killed, according to the Lebanese government. In Israel, AP reported 14 people had been killed by Iranian missile fire, and at least 13 U.S. military members had been killed. Iran’s Red Crescent said more than 1,300 people had been killed in Iran since the conflict started Feb. 28.
The AP also reported that the killings of the two Iranian officials came on the eve of “Chaharshanbe Souri,” the Festival of Fire before the Persian new year, as authorities sent threatening text messages telling the public not to turn out and warning that celebrations could be used by “rioters.” In the background to the wider campaign, U.S. Central Command’s account and officials’ warnings about the Strait of Hormuz underscored concerns that the escalating conflict could tighten energy supplies and unsettle markets.