Tehran again strikes Gulf oil hubs, Israel claims killing Iran’s security chief

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DUBAI – Iran launched fresh attacks on the United Arab Emirates on March 17, as Israel claimed that its air strikes a day earlier killed Iran’s national security chief along with the commander of Tehran’s Basij paramilitary force.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on March 17 that Iran’s powerful national security chief, Mr Ali Larijani, was “eliminated” late on March 16, along with the commander of Tehran’s Basij paramilitary force Gholamreza Soleimani.

“I have just been updated by the chief of staff that Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and the head of the Basij – Iran’s central repression apparatus – (Soleimani), were eliminated last night,” Mr Katz said.

Iranian state media published a handwritten note by Mr Larijani commemorating on March 17 Iranian sailors killed in a US attack, but there was no immediate comment by Tehran on Mr Katz’s remarks.

Israel’s military said Mr Soleimani was killed in a “precise strike in Tehran”.

The Basij, a feared militia estimated to number at about a million, played a central role in repressing the anti-government protests that began in January and killed thousands.

If his death is confirmed, Mr Larijani would be the most senior Iranian official to be killed after Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who died on the first day of the war on Feb 28.

Mr Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator and a close ally of Mr Khamenei, was seen in Tehran on March 13 taking part in Quds Day rallies.

Later that day, the United States offered a reward of up to US$10 million (S$12.8 million) for information on senior Iranian military and intelligence officials, including Mr Larijani, as part of a list of 10 figures linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The US-Israeli war on Iran is in its third week, with at least 2,000 people dead and no end in sight.

The critical Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed off, with US allies rebuffing Mr Trump’s request for help to reopen the critical waterway, raising energy prices and fears of inflation.

There was no let-up in attacks by both sides early on March 17, with Iran launching missiles on Israel overnight, showing it still has the capacity to carry out long-range strikes despite more than two weeks of pounding by American and Israeli weapons.

The Israeli military said it was targeting “Iranian regime infrastructure” with a new wave of strikes across Tehran, as well as Hezbollah sites in Beirut, a day after saying it has drawn up detailed plans for at least three more weeks of war with Iran.

Rockets and at least five drones targeted the US embassy in Baghdad early on March 17, Iraqi security sources said, describing it as the most intense assault since the war began. Two US officials said no injuries were reported so far.

Iran also targeted the United Arab Emirates, where attacks forced the temporary closure of airspace. A drone hit an oil facility in Fujairah, a key port for Emirati oil exports, for a second consecutive day.

The cascading disruptions threaten to completely sever the OPEC producer’s remaining crude export outlet from global markets, potentially deepening a crisis that has sent energy prices surging.

UAE authorities said debris from an intercepted ballistic missile fell in Abu Dhabi’s Bani Yas area, killing a Pakistani.

Mr Trump said earlier on March 16 that Iran’s retaliatory strikes against its neighbours, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait were a surprise.

“They (Iran) weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East,” he said. “Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”

Mr Trump, however, was warned that attacking Iran could trigger retaliation against US Gulf allies, according to a US official and two sources familiar with US intelligence reports.

Six foreign diplomats in the Gulf and the wider Middle East have told Reuters it was widely anticipated that Tehran would target Gulf Arab states if the United States or Israel attacked Iran, an assessment they said was shared by regional and Western governments.

The US official, who like the other two requested anonymity to discuss the issue, said Mr Trump was briefed before the war that striking Iran could trigger a broader regional conflict that would include Iranian retaliation against Gulf capitals, especially if Tehran saw those countries condoning or actively supporting the US attacks.

Mr Trump was also briefed ahead of the operation that Tehran would likely seek to close the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, according to two other sources familiar with the matter.

No help is coming

Mr Trump earlier accused some Western allies of ingratitude after several countries rebuffed his demand to send warships to escort oil tankers in the strait, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flow.

Mr Trump, speaking at a White House event in Washington, said many countries told him they were prepared to help, but he voiced frustration with some longstanding allies.

“Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t,” he said, without offering specifics.

“Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years,” he added. “We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic, and the level of enthusiasm matters to me.”

A number of US partners, including Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Australia, said they have no immediate plans to send ships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively shut with drones and naval mines.

“We lack the mandate from the United Nations, the European Union or NATO required under the Basic Law,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Berlin, adding that Washington and Israel did not consult Germany before launching the war.

Naval escorts will not “100 per cent guarantee” the safety of ships attempting to transit the waterway, the Financial Times quoted the head of the International Maritime Organization as saying on March 17.

Mr Trump earlier suggested China, which relies on Iranian crude, should help open the strait.

He said he might delay a much anticipated trip to Beijing at the end of March if the US does not get support from China. On March 16, he said he was seeking to delay the visit by “a month or so”.

While US and Israeli firepower has decimated Iran’s military, its fleet of cheap drones is continuing to cause havoc in the region.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf dismissed foreign reports Iran is running low on missile launchers.

“They say that our firepower has decreased, but our offensive power, experience and accuracy have increased,” he said on state TV on March 17.

On March 16, Dubai International Airport, typically one of the world’s busiest, was closed for several hours. Oil-loading operations in Fujairah were halted, and operations at the Shah gas field in Abu Dhabi were suspended following drone strikes.

Iran has also said that it would target US industrial facilities in the Middle East and urged people living near US-owned plants to leave.

Oil prices rise

Oil prices rose more than 2 per cent on March 17, reversing some of the previous session’s losses, on worries about supplies, while Asian shares also rallied after the March 16 sell-off.

Investors and policymakers are grappling with the risk that higher oil prices fuel inflation while crimping global growth, a dire scenario known as “stagflation”.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s board raised its cash rate for a second straight month on March 17, saying higher borrowing costs were needed to contain prices.

“The board is clearly worried that recent geopolitical developments could take a bad situation and make it much worse,” said Mr Abhijit Surya, senior economist at Capital Economics. REUTERS