Israel: 2 Top Iran Officials Killed    03/17 06:12

   Iran's top security official and the head of the Revolutionary Guard's Basij 
militia were both killed in overnight strikes in a blow to the country's 
leadership, Israel's defense minister said Tuesday, while Tehran defiantly 
fired new salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iran's top security official and the 
head of the Revolutionary Guard's Basij militia were both killed in overnight 
strikes in a blow to the country's leadership, Israel's defense minister said 
Tuesday, while Tehran defiantly fired new salvos of missiles and drones at its 
Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel.

   Both security official Ali Larijani and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani were 
"eliminated last night," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a 
statement. Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died in an 
airstrike Feb. 28, the first day of the war launched by the United States and 
Israel, and other top leaders from the Iranian theocracy have been killed since 
then.

   Iranian state media did not immediately confirm either death. However, it 
said a message from Larijani's office would be published shortly.

   The announcement came after the Israeli military had earlier said it had 
carried out a "wide-scale wave of strikes" across Iran's capital and stepped up 
strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Israel also reported two 
incoming salvos before dawn from Iran at Tel Aviv and elsewhere, and said 
Hezbollah targeted Israel's north.

   Incoming Iranian missiles on the United Arab Emirates prompted Dubai, a 
major transit hub for international travel, to briefly shut its airspace and a 
man was killed by the debris of a missile intercepted over Abu Dhabi.

   Israel says it has killed two top Iranian officials

   Larijani hails from one of Iran's most famous political families. A former 
parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, he was appointed to advise the 
late Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration.

   He also served as the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, 
its top security body.

   Soleimani, meantime, was the head of the Basij militia forces, which 
Israel's military called an "armed apparatus of the Iranian terror regime."

   "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," Israel's military said in a 
statement.

   The U.S. Treasury lists Soleimani as having been born in 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.

   Killing Soleimani would likely further strain the command and control of the 
Basij, which would be crucial in putting down any uprising against the 
theocracy. The Basij and other internal security forces have been a target of 
attack by both the Americans and the Israelis so far.

   Iranian strikes pressure neighbors and oil markets

   Iran kept up the pressure on the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab 
neighbors, hitting an oil facility in Fujairah, a UAE emirate on the country's 
east coast with the Gulf of Oman that has been repeatedly targeted. State-run 
WAM news reported that no one had been injured in the blast from the drone 
strike.

   The man killed by falling debris from an intercepted missile was the eighth 
person to die in the UAE since the start of the war, authorities said.

   Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through 
which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, has given rise to increasing 
concerns of a global energy crisis. Early Tuesday it hit a tanker anchored off 
the coast of Fujairah, one of about 20 vessels hit since Israel and the United 
States started the war with an attack on Iran on Feb. 28.

   Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said his country had 
been given no choice but to keep up its pressure on shipping traffic in the 
strait.

   "They are flying, launching missiles, should we just sit back and do nothing 
in response?" he said in an interview on state television.

   With Washington under increasing pressure over rising oil prices, Brent 
crude, the international standard, remained over $100 a barrel, up more than 
40% since the war started.

   U.S. President Donald Trump said he had demanded that roughly a half-dozen 
countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. But his appeals 
brought no immediate commitments, with many saying they are hesitant to get 
involved in a war with no defined exit plan and skeptical that they could do 
more than the U.S. Navy.

   UAE briefly closes airspace as Iran launches new attacks on Gulf neighbors

   The UAE shut down its airspace early Tuesday as its military reported it was 
"responding to missile and drone threats from Iran." The closure was soon 
lifted, and not long after the sounds of explosions could be heard as the 
military worked to intercept incoming fire.

   The snap announcement on its airspace showed the balancing act Emirati 
authorities face in trying to keep their long-haul carriers, Emirates and 
Etihad, flying as Iranian attacks continue to target the country.

   Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry reported intercepting a dozen drones Tuesday 
morning over the country's vast Eastern Province, home to oil infrastructure.

   In Qatar, the sounds of explosions boomed over the capital early in the day 
as defenses worked to intercept incoming fire. Qatar's Defense Ministry said 
later that it had successfully thwarted a missile attack on the city, though a 
fire broke out in an industrial area from a downed projectile.

   Attacks from Iran-linked proxy forces continued in Iraq, as the U.S. Embassy 
in Baghdad was hit with shrapnel from drones that had been intercepted.

   The embassy's air defenses were able to shoot down all four drones targeting 
the facility, according to two Iraqi security officials, speaking on condition 
of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

   A separate strike targeted a house in the heavily fortified Presidential 
Compound in Baghdad's al-Jadriya area, the officials said. It wasn't clear who 
carried out either attack but Iran-allied militias have regularly been 
attacking American targets inside Iraq since the conflict began.

   Israel launches new attacks on Tehran and steps up strikes on Beirut

   The Israeli military early Tuesday said it had launched new attacks across 
Tehran in addition to the Lebanese capital targeting Hezbollah militants.

   In Iran, it said it hit command centers, missile launch sites and air 
defense systems. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran, where little 
information has been coming out due to internet outages, round-the-clock 
airstrikes and tight restrictions on journalists.

   Israel did not immediately release details of its attacks on Lebanon, but 
the Lebanese army said two of its soldiers were seriously wounded in an 
airstrike on the village of Kfar Sir.

   More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the start of the 
conflict, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.

   Israel's strikes have also displaced more than 1 million Lebanese -- or 
roughly 20% of the population -- according to the Lebanese government, which 
says some 850 people have been killed.

   Some Israeli troops have pushed into southern Lebanon, and there are fears 
Israel is preparing a large-scale invasion.

   The military's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said Monday on a visit 
to the northern border that Israel's army is "determined to deepen the 
operation until all of our objectives are achieved" and that the military's 
Northern Command is being reinforced with additional soldiers.

   Israel reported two Iranian salvos early Tuesday fired toward Tel Aviv and 
an area south of the Sea of Galilee. More launches from Lebanon were also 
reported.

   In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 
U.S. military members have been killed.

   Closure of Strait of Hormuz pressures oil shipping

   The virtual shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz is unnerving the world economy, 
driving up energy prices, threatening food shortages in poor countries, 
destabilizing fragile states and complicating efforts by central banks to drive 
down prices for consumers.

   There have been a handful of ships getting through, primarily Iranian but 
also from other countries including India and Turkey, and Iran has said it 
technically remains open -- just not for the United States, Israel and its 
allies. Iraq said Tuesday it was in talks with Iran about allowing passage for 
its ships.

   Underscoring the danger of even getting close to the strait, a tanker 
anchored off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates was hit by a 
projectile early Tuesday morning and sustained minor damage, according to the 
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, run by the British military.