Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that the Israeli military ​had killed Iran’s security chief and the head of its Basij militia in air strikes overnight, and Tehran kept up attacks against Gulf neighbours that have pushed up energy prices. Katz said in a statement he had been informed by ​the military that Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani had been killed. Iranian state media published a handwritten note by Larijani commemorating Iranian ⁠sailors killed in a US attack whose funeral was expected on Tuesday but there ‌was ‌no ​immediate comment by Tehran on Katz’s remarks. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office said ⁠in a statement that the Israeli leader ⁠had ordered “the elimination of ​senior officials of the Iranian regime”. The US-Israeli war on Iran is in its third week, with at least 2,000 people killed and no end in sight.

Source: The Irish Times March 17, 2026 09:35 UTC