A worker at a fuel oil and vehicle fuel market in Erbil, Iraq on March 17, 2026. Recent drone attacks in the region have forced some oil refineries here to halt operations, while others are continuing.
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Iran launched new missile attacks on Israel overnight, targeting Tel Aviv, after confirming the deaths of Ali Larijani, who emerged as a key wartime figure following the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Gholamrez Soleimani, head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force. Their deaths were confirmed by Iranian authorities on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister of Iran. Abbas Araghchi. Al Jazeera said on Tuesday that the killings would not destabilize Iran’s leadership, adding that Iran “has a strong political structure with established political, economic and social institutions”.
Israel struck central Beirut overnight, killing 10 people. Israel’s military said it was targeting Hezbollah militants and installations.
Health officials have reported that 1,300 have died in Iran, 922 in Lebanon and 16 in Israel since the fighting began on February 28. US Central Command said 13 US service members were killed and approximately 200 soldiers were wounded.
Here are the latest updates:
After the assassination of two leaders in Tehran, Iran suffered a setback
An apartment damaged by a missile attack is seen in Ramat Gan, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel on March 18, 2026.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it fired multiple-warhead missiles, also known as cluster munitions, at the Tel Aviv area on Wednesday.
A man and a woman died in their apartment in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv. The Iranian missile attack also caused damage in other parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv’s train station.
Iran’s missile attacks across the region have been deadliest in Israel, where at least 16 people have been killed since the war began.
Iran said it was in “revenge” for Israel’s killing of two of Iran’s top leaders, Ali Larijani and Gholamrez Soleimani, the highest killings in Iran since Israel killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top leaders on the first day of the war.
Larijani had a long career in Iran’s political elite, serving as speaker of parliament and a top adviser to the slain Supreme Leader. After killing the Ayatollah, many believed that Larijani would succeed him.
He was involved in negotiations with the Trump administration before the war.
“He seems to be the one person the international community can talk to, and now with him apparently killed it’s hard to see how one can talk to the IRGC,” said Zeid Raad al-Hussein, a former Jordanian ambassador to the US who is president of the International Peace Institute. IRGC is the acronym for the Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s powerful paramilitary force.
Soleimani led the Basij forces for seven years. They are an offshoot of the Revolutionary Guard, a volunteer paramilitary army that Israel has been responsible for violently suppressing street protests against the Iranian government earlier this year.
– Daniel Estrin
Iran’s foreign minister said the killings would not destabilize Iran’s political system
Rocket trails are seen in the sky amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile strikes on the Israeli coastal city of Netanya on March 18, 2026.
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Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
In the wake of the assassinations of two top leaders, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran’s government “does not depend on one person”.
“The presence or absence of one person does not affect this structure,” Araghchi said in an Al Jazeera television interview.
He said: “Of course, individuals are influential, and each individual plays their part – some good, some bad, some less – but the important thing is that the political system in Iran is a very solid structure.”
– Rebecca Roseman
NPR talks about Iranians fleeing to Iraq amid fear and tightening repression
Families fleeing Iran from the Haji Omeran border crossing between Iran and Iraq told NPR about what they described as a widespread fear of speaking out, even outside the country.
A woman in her 60s, who requested anonymity for fear of government reprisals, broke down in tears and said she wished the latest airstrikes on her border city would kill her, saying life was unbearable amid the latest security crackdown by Iranian authorities and the war.
Several people NPR spoke to described an Internet blackout, more checkpoints and Iranian security forces searching through people’s phones.
A 40-year-old man who lives in the eastern Iranian city and asked not to be identified for fear of government reprisals said he had recently seen security forces move into a mosque and a sports stadium, which he said was a sign of increased security measures.
NPR cannot independently verify these accounts. However, he echoes several testimonies shared with NPR reporters and documented by human rights groups with sources in Iran.
– Arezou Rezvani
Israel hits central Beirut and issues new warning to south Lebanon
An MEA commercial plane flies over smoke after an IDF airstrike on March 17, 2026 in Beirut, Lebanon.
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Israel struck central Beirut on Wednesday as Israel’s offensive in Lebanon intensified, with Hezbollah targeting militants and installations. Lebanon’s health ministry said 10 people were killed in two attacks on Wednesday morning.
The Israeli military destroyed a building in the Bachoura neighborhood that had previously been targeted. Israel issued an evacuation order for the building on social media at 4 a.m. local time and the strikes began around 5:30 a.m. Bachoura is a residential and commercial district near the Lebanese prime minister’s office and several foreign embassies in Beirut.
The strikes came as Israel issued new evacuation orders for parts of southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s health ministry condemned the Israeli attacks, which it said damaged three public hospitals in Nabatih, a major city in the south of the country.
– Hadeel al-Shalchi
Daniel Estrin contributed to this report from Tel Aviv, Israel. Hadeel Al-Shalchi from Beirut, Arejou Rezwani from Erbil in the Kurdish region of Iraq and Rebecca Roseman from Paris.
