US counterterrorism official Joe Kent
Joe Kent, director of the United States National Counterterrorism Centre, resigned on Tuesday, March 17, saying he can no longer support the war in Iran.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent said. “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.”
In his resignation letter to US President Trump, the director said that high-ranking Israeli officials and American media officials “deceived” and pressured Trump into believing that 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,” Kent said.
“We cannot make this mistake again,” he added.
Kent is a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists who was confirmed to his post last July on a 52-44 vote.
Israel’s defence minister said Tuesday that the military killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike. The military also announced it killed Gen Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force.
Iranian state media did not immediately confirm either death.
A drone attack early Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates sparked a fire at an oil tank farm in Fujairah, which is an emirate on the country’s east coast with the Gulf of Oman that has been repeatedly targeted. No one was injured in the blast.
The Israeli military also said Tuesday it had launched new attacks across Tehran and Beirut, with the strikes on the Lebanese capital targeting Hezbollah militants.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump said “numerous countries” have told him “they’re on the way” to help police the Strait of Hormuz. But he also suggested some countries’ reluctance showed a lack of reciprocity in defense agreements with the United States.
The war has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, at least 850 in Lebanon and 12 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The US military says 13 US service members have been killed and about 200 wounded.
The army said the soldiers were killed while riding on a motorcycle on the road linking the village of Zebdine with the southern city of Nabatiyeh.
The strike occurred hours after another airstrike killed one soldier and wounded four in the southern village of Kfar Sir.
Sardar Mousavi, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force, stated a “new phase of effective and heavy strikes across the region against the American-Zionist enemy.”
According to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, the commander said, “The backbone of arrogance will be broken in the streets and squares.”
Iran began airing footage of the pro-government demonstrations on state television, which include images of some men in plainclothes branding assault rifles and shotguns on the back of motorcycles — a rarity in such demonstrations and a sign of the government wanting to warn any protesters off the streets.
“Poland has other responsibilities within NATO,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.
“This applies to our land, air and naval forces, which are still, I would say, under development. The naval assets at our disposal must serve the security of the Baltic Sea. And our allies, including the Americans, understand this very well.”
The United Arab Emirates reported a missile and drone attack Tuesday afternoon. The government urged residents to remain in safe locations.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said Tuesday’s strike hit on the old road of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.
In a statement announcing the killings of Larijani and Soleimani, the Israeli leader said the attacks were aimed at weakening the government.
“We are undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it. It won’t happen quickly or easily, but if we persist, they will have the chance to take their destiny into their own hands,” he said.
Iranian hard-liners planned demonstrations late Tuesday afternoon in squares across the country, likely to counter any possible unrest as the country was set to celebrate its ancient fire festival.
The demonstrations were called to confront Israel and other enemies. Witnesses said in the Iranian capital, Tehran, there was a heavy security force presence around the Grand Bazaar, including heavy, truck-mounted machine guns being deployed.
“Chaharshanbe Souri,” or the Festival of Fire in Iran, is to be marked on Tuesday night. The festival comes in the hours just before the Wednesday before Nowruz, which is the Persian New Year. There had been some fears from authorities any gathering could spark new protests against the theocracy.
Hezbollah claimed that it fired multiple rockets at a group of Israeli soldiers in the Khiam town of southern Lebanon. It said the soldiers were targeted near a municipal building in the town. The group, earlier on Tuesday, had targeted a group of Israeli soldiers in a tent on the border town of Maroun al-Ras in Bint Jbeil district, southern Lebanon.
The United Arab Emirates says its air defences responded to 10 ballistic missiles and 45 drones Iran fired Tuesday at the Gulf county.
Humanitarian groups are bracing for a crisis as the US-Israeli war against Iran and its proxies displace millions across the Middle East, said International Organization for Migration (IOM) Brussels director Lukas Gehrke.
In Lebanon, more than a million people are displaced, and about 100,000 people, mostly Syrians, have fled into Syria, where the IOM is expects 250,000 refugees might soon need food and medicine, he said.
Inside Iran, Gehrke said fighting has damaged about 55,000 civilian structures, including 30,000 homes, pushing people to shelter within Iran, with IOM tracking more than half a million cars headed north. Meanwhile, the war has disrupted global supply chains, and funding cuts have hit aid agencies hard.
“We need to keep in mind how far we can go with the available funds,” Gehrke said. “It’s certainly a big test for everybody.”
Spain said it has approved the release of up to 11.5 million barrels of oil reserves over the next three months as fears around supply shortage grow and prices surge due to Iran’s decision to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed.
The release will occur in phases, in accordance with the International Energy Agency’s effort to deliver up to 400 million barrels. The first release will start in 15 days, Sara Aagesen, Spain’s Energy Minister said.
The World Food Program says the Middle East conflict is upending its supply chains like rarely before and could push 45 million more people into acute hunger if the war lasts through June. That would be up from 319 million today.
“This would take global hunger levels to an all-time record. And it’s a terrible, terrible prospect,” WFP deputy executive director Carl Skau told a U.N. briefing in Geneva.
Spiking food and fuel costs could price millions of families out of stable access to foods, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. As a result, he said the WFP could be “on the brink of the most severe disruption since Covid and the Ukraine war back in 2022.”
(With inputs from agencies)
This post was last modified on March 17, 2026 7:57 pm