00:01Iran confirmed Tuesday that top security official Ali Larijani was killed in an Israeli
00:06strike the day before.
00:08Larijani headed the country's Supreme National Security Council and was widely seen as one
00:13of the most powerful men in the country.
00:16He had close ties to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son and successor
00:21Moj Taba.
00:23Iran says it has retaliated for Larijani's killing.
00:26State television reported that Tehran launched missile strikes toward the Tel Aviv area overnight,
00:31describing the attack as revenge for the assassination.
00:35The killing marks a major escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, now in its fourth
00:40week with the conflict spreading across the region.
00:43As tensions rise, U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized allies for refusing to help
00:48secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for global oil supplies.
00:52Trump says NATO countries and other key partners have declined to get involved, calling their
00:58stands a mistake, even as the Strait remains largely closed and energy markets stay on edge.
01:05The conflict has also triggered turmoil inside the U.S. government.
01:09Joe Kent, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned Tuesday.
01:13In his resignation letter to Trump, he wrote that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United
01:19States.
01:20Meanwhile, in Tehran, a senior Iranian official says the country's new supreme leader has
01:25rejected proposals for de-escalation, saying it is not the right time for peace until the
01:30United States and Israel accept defeat.
01:33Oil prices keep climbing as the war drags on, up about 45 percent since it began on February
01:3928, stoking fears of global inflation and a wider economic shock if fighting around the Strait
01:46of Hormuz worsens.
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