Israel-Iran Conflict Escalates: Claims of Airstrike Victims and Retaliatory Missile Fire

Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz claimed that Iran's security chief was killed in the overnight strike. Israel claimed that the head of Iran's National Security Council, Ali Larijani, was killed in the airstrike. Israel claimed that the commander of Iran's paramilitary Basij, Gholamrezz Soleimani, was also killed. Iran denied the claim. Iran's counter-claim was that the missile was fired within a few meters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. Iran's Leader of State Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said that a surrender to the United States was out of the question. The United States-Israel must be defeated. Iran said that the United States always broke off negotiations. This time, too. The Israeli-American imposed war on Iran has been going on for eighteen days. Shipping on the Strait of Hormuz, an important international oil shipping route, has become almost impossible. Crude oil prices have risen by 40 percent in just eighteen days. The price of US military missiles in the Middle East has crossed $100.