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Starmer, Zelenskyy urge ‘focus’ on Ukraine as Iran war diverts attention  Al Jazeera

Ali Larijani: What does the death of philosopher security chief mean for Iran? Rayhan Uddin on Tue, 03/17/2026 - 17:00 Tehran loses versatile operator across military, legislative and cultural spheres, but analysts say the Islamic Republic is 'designed to absorb' it Ali Larijani attends a ceremony held by Hezbollah to commemorate the first anniversary of their late leader Hassan Nasrallah's killing by Israel, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, on 27 September 2025 (Reuters/Mohamed Azakir) Off Ali Larijani, a politician, security chief and philosopher, was Iran’s renaissance man. The 67-year-old, whom Israel says it killed overnight, was one of the state’s most versatile figures, holding decades of experience in the military, legislative and cultural spheres. “He had his fingers in a lot of different pots,” Barbara Slavin, an American journalist and fellow at the Stimson Centre who interviewed Larijani four times, told Middle East Eye. “[He] had an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) background, but also headed national television for a while.” Larijani occupied many influential positions in Iran’s corridors of power, including as the head of state broadcaster Irib, the speaker of parliament and the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); He served in the latter role between 2005 and 2007, and was re-appointed in August last year. The Iraqi-born Iranian was also an IRGC veteran of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, rising to the rank of brigadier general. Larijani’s interests were diverse: he wrote at least six philosophy books and was an expert on Immanuel Kant’s views on science and mathematics. Family ties Ali Larijani was perhaps always destined to rise to the top of Iran’s power structure. “Larijani came from a prominent clerical family. His brother was head of the judiciary for a while and was touted as a possible supreme leader after Ali Khamenei,” said Slavin. “His other brothers had important positions in the government.” “It's a funny kind of regime. It's ideological, but it's also very much based on family ties,” Slavin said. 'It removes a pragmatic insider who could help translate strategy into coordinated policy' - Sina Toossi, analyst As well as being multi-faceted, Larijani was also a pragmatist who reached out to different factions and actors both domestically and internationally. “He was a rare figure who combined immense political experience and security credentials, and who could build consensus across factions. That made him particularly valuable in crisis moments,” Sina Toossi, an expert on Iran and US foreign policy, told MEE. “His loss is meaningful in that sense. It removes a pragmatic insider who could help translate strategy into coordinated policy.” 'A moderate when he chose to be' Alan Eyre, an analyst and former US official, said Larijani could be both a moderate and a principlist. “He was a moderate when he chose to be, and a hardliner when it suited him better,” he told MEE. “In other words, he was a highly functioning mix of pragmatism and opportunism.” Eyre was the US State Department’s first Persian language spokesperson, and a core member of the US nuclear negotiating team in the 2010s. 'He was someone that the United States could have talked to' - Barbara Slavin, journalist At the same time, Larijani was the chief negotiator for Iran’s nuclear programme, supporting diplomacy and outreach in an effort to reduce sanctions on Iran. “He was someone that the United States could have talked to. Someone the United States has talked to in the past,” said Slavin, noting that she interviewed him in 2006 when Larijani was reaching out to Stephen Hadley, then the US national security adviser.   But as well as consensus politics, he was capable of strong, aggressive rhetoric and actions. After the US and Israel sparked the war, Larijani warned US President Donald Trump to beware “lest you be the ones to vanish”, and said that the Strait of Hormuz would become a strait of “defeat and suffering for warmongers”. When anti-government protests broke out in January, Larijani was viewed as an architect of a brutal crackdown on demonstrators. The Islamic Republic continues As versatile and experienced as Larijani was, his death is not likely to be fatal for the Islamic Republic. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); “It does not fundamentally threaten the regime’s survival. The Islamic Republic is a multi-layered and institutionalised system that is designed to absorb these kinds of losses,” said Toossi. Toossi rejected the idea that Larijani was effectively the de facto leader of Iran over recent weeks and months. He said the country didn’t operate in such a way, and that decision-making was spread across institutions, with the supreme leader at the apex and the president, IRGC and other bodies playing key roles. “Larijani was influential, but he was one actor within a broader system rather than its centre of gravity,” Toossi said. 'Israel can keep on killing supposedly 'key' leaders, but they will likely be replaced by younger, more hardline candidates' - Alan Eyre, former US official “Decapitation strikes rarely produce decisive political outcomes in systems like Iran’s. They tend to remove individuals, sometimes important ones, but leave the underlying structure and strategic logic intact.” Saeed Jalili, Larijani’s deputy security chief, is viewed as Larijani’s likely replacement. Eyre said that such a move would be “just another step in the 'hardlining' of the Iranian regime”. “Yes, there is some weakening in the sense that his replacement might be less competent, but the more important consequence is this 'hardlining',” he said. Larijani was reportedly working with Hassan Rouhani, the former reformist Iranian president, to postpone the election of Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader and to find an alternative candidate. The efforts ultimately failed, and Ali Khamenei’s son was selected by the Assembly of Experts. Eyre said that the question was not which figures would grow in importance following Larijani’s death, but which institutions. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); “His death increases the importance of the two main institutions running Iran: the IRGC and the Bayt-e Rahbari,” he said, the latter referring to the supreme leader’s office. “Israel can keep on killing supposedly ‘key’ leaders, but they will likely be replaced by younger, more hardline candidates.” Analysis News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

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The post-October 7 Wars in Iran and Lebanon Are Turning Into Netanyahu's Vietnam  Haaretz

Trump’s alternate reality on the Iran war  CNN

Ali Larijani was a ‘true insider’ of Iran’s regime and its public face. His killing could prolong the war  CNN

Israel launches ‘targeted’ invasions of Lebanon as world focuses on Iran war  The Real News Network

Trump’s Iran war has no ethical or legal grounds | Letters  The Guardian

US embassy and diplomatic facility in Baghdad targeted by rocket and drone attacks  Rockets and an explosive drone targeted the US embassy in Baghdad, triggering sirens, and an explosion was heard near the compound, security sources said. The attack comes after a series of earlier strikes on the same day.  At least three explosive drones also targeted a US diplomatic facility near Baghdad International Airport, activating C-RAM air defence systems, the sources added. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

US counterterror chief says in resignation letter Israel 'deceived' Trump into attacking Iran Sean Mathews on Tue, 03/17/2026 - 14:53 Joseph Kent's resignation is the highest-profile indictment against Israel by a sitting US official in history Joseph Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, testifies during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on 11 December 2025 (Saul Loeb/AFP) Off A senior Trump administration official in the directorate of national intelligence has resigned over the war on Iran, saying that the US president was tricked into the conflict by an Israeli and pro-war “echo chamber”. “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Joseph Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote in a resignation letter shared on Tuesday. The National Counterterrorism Center oversees all US government intelligence on threats and falls under the Directorate of National Intelligence, which is run by Tulsi Gabbard. Kent is one of the highest-profile political appointees to resign in decades over a foreign war. Kent’s public broadside against Israel is the first in a resignation letter by a senior presidential administration official in history. Kent, who has top security clearance, accused Israel of misleading President Donald Trump. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); “High-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran,” Kent wrote. “This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory,” he wrote. Reacting to Kent's resignation on Tuesday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he didn't know Kent very well and thought he was a "nice guy" but "weak on security". "But when I read his statement, I realised that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that 'Iran was not a threat'. Iran was a threat - every country realised what a threat Iran was, the question was whether or not they wanted to do something about it." "When somebody is working with us and says they didn’t think Iran was a threat, we don’t want those people, because there are some people, I guess, that would say that, but they’re not smart people, or they’re not savvy people. Iran was a tremendous threat," Trump added. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Kent was named director of the National Counterterrorism Center in February 2025. Trump posted on Truth Social at the time that it was his "pleasure" to nominate Kent for the director position and credited him with hunting down criminals and "terrorists" his "entire adult life". "Joe will help us keep America safe by eradicating all terrorism, from the jihadists and the World to the cartels in our backyard." Resignations The Biden administration saw a few protests over US support for Israel amid the war on Gaza, but they were mainly low to mid-career-level officials. Kent also has a prestigious US military record. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); He is a former Army Ranger who undertook 11 combat deployments after the 11 September 2001 attacks. In 2018, he became a CIA paramilitary officer. He later ran for Congress as an ardent Trump supporter. 'Suez moment': US missteps in Iran echo across East Asia to the Gulf and Europe Read More » Kent’s wife, Shannon, was a US Navy cryptologist. She was killed in 2019 by a bombing at a restaurant in Manbij, Syria. US troops deployed to Syria to defeat the Islamic State (IS) militant group. Around 1,000 US troops remain in Syria despite IS’s territorial defeat in 2019. Kent said that Israel was also responsible for the US intervention in Syria. “As a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives,” Kent wrote. Kent’s resignation was praised on social media by high-profile members of Trump’s Maga movement who have opposed the war. Shawn Ryan, a former Navy Seal and podcaster who backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election, welcomed the resignation. “Sometimes the most impactful statement you can make is a strong resignation.  It's unfortunate it's come down to this.  God speed [Joe Kent], I hope this wakes some people up,” Ryan wrote on X. Kent was a diehard Trump supporter who backed protestors arrested during the 6 January 2021 attack on Capitol Hill. War on Iran News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

A man was rescued from under the rubble of a destroyed building in Iran following an Israeli strike.

UN rights office says more than 36,000 Palestinians forcibly displaced in a year due to Israeli settler, army violence.

Watch: Iranians show daily life under air strikes and regime crackdown  BBC

Israel has ‘won’ war with Iran, Israeli foreign minister says  Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday the country had effectively won its war with Iran, but gave no indication of when the war might end.  Speaking at a news conference, Saar said Israel was seeking to remove "existential threats", but did not say how the government would determine when those goals had been met.  "One must be patient," he said, speaking on the 18th day of a war that has killed more than 2,000 civilians, most of them in Iran and Lebanon, but also in Israel, Iraq and across the Gulf. Saar and other Israeli officials have said the aim is to significantly weaken Iran's ability to carry out attacks against Israel over the long term, while creating conditions inside Iran that could ultimately enable Iranians to overthrow their rulers.

The head of the US National Counterterrorism Center’s departure reflects a growing schism within Trump’s base, where the anti-war wing of the MAGA movement is increasingly angered by the Iran conflict.

The Iran war is good for the Russian economy but bad for Putin’s prestige  Atlantic Council

WA’s Joe Kent leaving Trump administration over war in Iran  Washington State Standard

Turkey calls Israel’s killings of Iran leaders ‘illegal’ Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has lashed out at Israel after it claimed to have killed Iran’s powerful national security chief Ali Larijani, denouncing its targeting of Tehran’s leaders as “illegal”. “Israel’s political assassinations, especially those targeting Iranian statesmen and politicians, are truly illegal activities outside the normal laws of war,” Fidan told a news conference. Larijani’s death has not been confirmed by Iran.

Trump says NATO allies won’t get involved with Iran war | CNN Politics  CNN