LIVE | Iran war: Trump calls NATO ‘foolish’; US counterterror chief quits; Israel vows to ‘neutralise’ Mojtaba Khamenei

Israeli said it had killed Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, as Trump said he had postponed his trip to China to focus on the war and lashed out at NATO allies.

Summary

The war in West Asia unravels for a third week as the United States and Israel traded fire with Iran, with attacks continuing on military, diplomatic and strategic infrastructure.

The conflict, triggered by the February 28 US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread across the region, roiling energy markets and pushing up oil prices as the Islamic Republic imposed a blockade on the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Israel has intensified attacks on Lebanon, launching a ground invasion targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah.

TOP DEVELOPMENTS

Israel vows to 'neutralise' Mojtaba: Israel's military on Tuesday vowed to hunt down and "neutralise" Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, after saying it had killed the Islamic republic's powerful national security chief in an airstrike.

Trump chides NATO over Hormuz: US President Donald Trump lashed out at NATO on Tuesday, calling it "foolish" after allies rebuffed his call to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying the US needs no assistance. He also wrote on Truth Social that US forces "no longer need" military help in the Iran war.

US counterterror chief quits in protest: Joe Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, resigned on Tuesday, saying he "cannot in good conscience" back the Trump administration’s war in Iran. Kent is the first senior US official to resign over the war. Trump said it was a "good thing" that Kent stepped down.

France rules out Hormuz ship escorts: French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said France would "never" help secure the Strait of Hormuz "in the current context" of war, rejecting Trump’s call.

Israel claims killing of Iran’s security chief: Israel’s Defence Minister Katz on Tuesday said the military had killed Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani and IRGC Basij commander Gen. Gholamreza Soleimani in overnight strikes. Iran has yet to comment.

UN criticises Israel’s Lebanon invasion: The UN on Tuesday said threats by Israeli officials to unleash Gaza-level destruction on Lebanon are "wholly unacceptable", warning that "deliberately attacking civilians or civilian objects amounts to a war crime."

US embassy struck in Baghdad: The US embassy in Baghdad was the target of a drone and rocket attack, a security official said. The strike sparked a fire on embassy grounds, the source said, while a witness reported seeing the fire from her balcony.

Iran Guards confirm death of Basij chief in US-Israeli strike

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Tuesday confirmed the death of the commander of the affiliated Basij paramilitary force in an US-Israeli strike.

"Commander Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij Organization, has been martyred," the Guards said on their Sepah News website, after Israel said it had killed him in an air strike.

Israel vows to 'track down, neutralise' Iran's Mojtaba Khamenei

The Israeli military said Tuesday that it would hunt down Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

"We don't know about Mojtaba Khamenei, we don't hear him, we don't see him, but I can tell you one thing: we will track him down, find him, and neutralise him," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told reporters.

Iran’s internet blackout silences voices at home as diaspora creators fill the void

Iranian American Ariana Afshar has tried to produce commentary about the war based on the perspectives of people in Iran.

But the New York-based social media creator keeps running into an obstacle: An internet blackout imposed by the government in Tehran has stifled almost all communications from the country.

That makes it nearly impossible to reliably survey perspectives inside Iran, where Afshar lived as a teenager and still has family.

“I think it’s a huge problem among the Iranian diaspora, where they speak for Iranians a lot. I don’t want to fall into that,” said Afshar, who has roughly 350,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. Content creators “cannot thoroughly access the people’s opinions in Iran,” she said.

US seeks international support, even as Trump says no help is needed

The State Department has reached out to numerous countries seeking their support in isolating Iran by designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations even though Trump says the US doesn’t need military help.

A cable sent to all US diplomatic missions on Monday told American diplomats in countries that have not yet made such designations to urge them to act quickly to do so.

“Such designations will intensify the pressure on the Iranian regime and limit its ability to sponsor terror activities across the globe that jeopardize the safety and security of your populations,” the cable advised US diplomats to tell their host governments.

“We assess that the Iranian regime is more sensitive to collective action than unilateral actions and that joint pressure is more likely to compel change by the regime than unilateral actions alone,” said the cable, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Satellite images begin to show damage wrought by Iran war

The images give a glimpse into the toll, with ships ablaze in an Iranian port and destroyed buildings at an American base. Such information has been scarce, particularly from inside closed military facilities.

These images come from Planet Labs PBC, a San Francisco-based firm used by media outlets including The Associated Press. Planet Labs imposed a two-week delay to avoid having its imagery used by “adversarial actors.”

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows fires burning on ships after a US military attack on a port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, March 2, 2026.(Photo via AP)

High-resolution images also have been published by competing firms, and providers including the US Geological Survey have been publishing lower-resolution imagery.

The US and Israel have been striking a wide variety of targets, including leadership figures, military bases, missile and air defense sites and positions of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and its volunteer force, the Basij. Iran has responded with drone and missile fire targeting Israel and nearby Gulf Arab nations.

Security source says US embassy struck as explosions heard in Baghdad

Several loud explosions were heard Tuesday evening in Iraq's capital Baghdad, AFP journalists reported, with a security official reporting a drone and rocket attack on the US embassy.

In a restaurant in the city, where diners did not react to the initial sounds of the blasts, a witness told AFP he saw explosions in the sky caused by the embassy's air defences intercepting projectiles.

Another witness saw a fire on the embassy grounds from her balcony, with the blaze also reported by the security official, who said it was caused by a drone.

Wrap: US counterterror chief quits over Iran war, says ‘no imminent threat’; Trump calls it ‘good thing’

Joe Kent, the director of the United States' National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation on Tuesday, saying he "cannot in good conscience" back the Trump administration's war in Iran.

Kent is the first senior US official to resign from the Trump administration to protest the war against Iran.

Announcing his resignation via X, Kent wrote that 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."

Reacting to his resignation US President Donald Trump called it "good thing" that Kent stepped down. "I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security," the president told reporters in the Oval Office.

He said that when he saw Kent's resignation statement "I realized that it's a good thing that he's out."

Wrap: Trump blasts 'foolish' NATO on Iran, says US needs no help

US President Donald Trump lashed out Tuesday at "foolish" NATO over Iran, saying the United States needs no help after allies rebuffed his calls to join efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said most US allies had rejected his push to escort ships through the crucial waterway, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying his country would "never" do so until the situation was calmer.

"I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake," Trump told reporters as he hosted Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin in the Oval Office.

"I've long said that I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us. So this was a great test."

But Trump insisted that Washington was ready to go it alone against Iran, saying that even NATO allies had agreed that the Islamic republic needed to be confronted over its nuclear program. "We don't need too much help. We don't need any help," Trump said.

Minutes before the meeting, Trump made a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform saying US forces "no longer need" military help in the Iran war. Trump said that "most" NATO allies had said they did not want to get involved, along with Japan, Australia and South Korea, describing the decades-old military alliance as a "one way street."

"Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer 'need,' or desire, the NATO Countries' assistance -- WE NEVER DID!"