Iranian leadership struck with major blow, as Israel reveals it killed these 2 key officials

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani were “eliminated.” Israel said Tuesday it killed two senior Iranian security officials in overnight strikes in a major blow to the country’s leadership. Tehran defiantly fired new salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel in a war that showed no signs of abating.Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were “eliminated last night,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said. Following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an airstrike on the first day of the war, Larijani was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country.Both men were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy’s 47-year rule. Iranian state media did not immediately confirm either death. The killings would strip Iran of important leaders as the Islamic Republic faces its greatest test in recent decades in its war with the United States and Israel.With concerns growing about a global energy crisis, Iran fired new attacks at several of its Gulf Arab neighbors and oil infrastructure throughout the region. Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace, the second disruption to flights in the city in as many days. An Iranian official defiantly said Tehran had no intention of relinquishing its tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil.The Israeli military also said it had begun a “wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran’s capital and was stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.