US-Iran war live updates: Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani killed in strike, Israel claims; Trump says US will leave Iran in ‘very near future’

Good morning and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani and General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were killed in Israeli strikes, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reported. Iranian state media did not immediately confirm either death.
• Speaking in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump said the US would be leaving Iran in the “very near future”.
• Trump lashed out at NATO and Indo-Pacific allies, stating he never needed their help in Iran. “We do not need the help of anyone,” he said on social media.
• The head of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, resigned over the war, saying Iran had posed “no imminent threat to our nation”.
• The Israeli military said its strikes in Lebanon were continuing as it claims to be targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
• Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has rejected de-escalation proposals conveyed to Tehran by intermediaries, demanding Israel and the US first be “brought to their knees”, a senior Iranian official said.

• In a joint statement on the Middle East conflict, Australian and New Zealand foreign and defence ministers have “urged the protection of civilian life, resumption of dialogue and diplomacy and adherence to international law”.

Donald Trump has reversed course and claimed he never needed or wanted other countries’ help in Iran, and lashed out at the US’s NATO and Indo-Pacific allies – including Australia – after previously demanding their assistance.

Trump has been asking US allies – primarily NATO members – to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to help unblock the crucial shipping passage, with oil tanker traffic grinding to a halt amid the ongoing US and Israeli campaign against Iran.

But he said on Tuesday (US time) that most NATO allies had informed him they would not take part. It was not surprising, he said, as he had long considered NATO to be a one-way street. “We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need.”

“Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer ‘need’, or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance – WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea,” Trump wrote on social media.

The Iranian women’s soccer team arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday on their way home from Malaysia, after five players withdrew the asylum claims they had lodged in Australia.

Australia had granted humanitarian visas to six players and one support staff member after they sought asylum, saying they feared persecution if they returned to Iran.

Concerns over their safety surfaced after several players failed to sing the national anthem at a women’s Asian Cup match earlier this month.

Five of the group have since changed their minds and decided to return home.

President Donald Trump said the US was not ready to leave the military operation in Iran yet, but would be in the “very near future”.

“If we left right now, it would take 10 years for them to rebuild. But we’re not ready to leave yet,” Trump said.

“We’ll be leaving in the near future, in pretty much the very near future.”

He said the Iranian regime had been “decimated from every standpoint”.

Trump was speaking to reporters in the Oval Office as he held a bilateral meeting with Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheal Martin on St Patrick’s Day on Tuesday Washington time.

The head of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, has resigned over President Donald Trump’s Iran war, saying Iran posed “no imminent threat to our nation.”

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent said in a statement to Trump, posted on X.

He said Trump had been “deceived” into believing 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. We cannot make this mistake again.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rebuked Kent and his letter for its “many false claims”.

“As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first,” Leavitt wrote in a lengthy social media post. “This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum.”

Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani was killed in an overnight strike, Israel’s defence minister said on Tuesday local time.

The Israeli military also announced it killed General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force.

Iranian state media did not immediately confirm either death. However, it said a message from Larijani’s office would be published.

The killings again strip away top leaders from the Iranian theocracy after the February 28 strike that killed 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Good morning and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani and General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were killed in Israeli strikes, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reported. Iranian state media did not immediately confirm either death.
• Speaking in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump said the US would be leaving Iran in the “very near future”.
• Trump lashed out at NATO and Indo-Pacific allies, stating he never needed their help in Iran. “We do not need the help of anyone,” he said on social media.
• The head of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, resigned over the war, saying Iran had posed “no imminent threat to our nation”.
• The Israeli military said its strikes in Lebanon were continuing as it claims to be targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
• Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has rejected de-escalation proposals conveyed to Tehran by intermediaries, demanding Israel and the US first be “brought to their knees”, a senior Iranian official said.

• In a joint statement on the Middle East conflict, Australian and New Zealand foreign and defence ministers have “urged the protection of civilian life, resumption of dialogue and diplomacy and adherence to international law”.