What you need to know
Good morning and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
- Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani and General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were killed in Israeli strikes, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reported. Iranian state media did not immediately confirm either death.
- Speaking in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump said the US would be leaving Iran in the “very near future”.
- Trump also lashed out at NATO and Indo-Pacific allies, stating he never needed their help in Iran. “We do not need the help of anyone,” he said on social media.
- The head of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, resigned over the war, saying Iran had posed “no imminent threat to our nation.”
- The Israeli military said its strikes in Lebanon were continuing as it claims to be targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
- Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has rejected de-escalation proposals conveyed to Tehran by intermediaries, demanding Israel and the US first be “brought to their knees”, a senior Iranian official said.
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In a joint statement on the Middle East conflict, Australian and New Zealand foreign and defence ministers have “urged the protection of civilian life, resumption of dialogue and diplomacy and adherence to international law”.
US will leave Iran in ‘very near future’: Trump
President Donald Trump said the US was not ready to leave the military operation in Iran yet, but would be in the “very near future”.
“If we left right now, it would take 10 years for them to rebuild. But we’re not ready to leave yet,” Trump said.
“We’ll be leaving in the near future, in pretty much the very near future.”
He said the Iranian regime had been “decimated from every standpoint”.
Trump was speaking to reporters in the Oval Office as he held a bilateral meeting with Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheal Martin on St Patrick’s Day on Tuesday Washington time.
Top US counterterrorism official resigns, says Iran ‘posed no imminent threat’
The head of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, has resigned over President Donald Trump’s Iran war, saying Iran posed “no imminent threat to our nation.”
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent said in a statement to Trump, posted on X.
He said Trump had been “deceived” into believing Iran posed an imminent threat to the US.
“This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rebuked Kent and his letter for its “many false claims”.
“As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first,” Leavitt wrote in a lengthy social media post. “This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum.”
Iran’s ‘de facto leader’ among two top officials killed in strikes, Israel claims
Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani was killed in an overnight strike, Israel’s defence minister said on Tuesday local time.
The Israeli military also announced it killed General 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.
The killings again strip away top leaders from the Iranian theocracy after the February 28 strike that killed 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
What you need to know
Good morning and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
- Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani and General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were killed in Israeli strikes, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reported. Iranian state media did not immediately confirm either death.
- Speaking in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump said the US would be leaving Iran in the “very near future”.
- Trump also lashed out at NATO and Indo-Pacific allies, stating he never needed their help in Iran. “We do not need the help of anyone,” he said on social media.
- The head of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, resigned over the war, saying Iran had posed “no imminent threat to our nation.”
- The Israeli military said its strikes in Lebanon were continuing as it claims to be targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
- Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has rejected de-escalation proposals conveyed to Tehran by intermediaries, demanding Israel and the US first be “brought to their knees”, a senior Iranian official said.
-
In a joint statement on the Middle East conflict, Australian and New Zealand foreign and defence ministers have “urged the protection of civilian life, resumption of dialogue and diplomacy and adherence to international law”.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
