US-Iran war updates: IDF confirms death's of Iran security chief Ali Larijani & commander Gholamreza Soleimani

We are ending our live blog of the Middle East conflict for today.

Thanks for joining us as we brought you rolling coverage of the moments as they happened.

Check back in tomorrow as we resume another day of events.

You can read a summary of Tuesday’s key developments in the post pinned below, or scroll through to see a recap of events in more detail.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the attacks on Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani were carried out to help Iranians overthrown their governement.

“We are undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it,” he said in a statement annoucing the killings of the top leaders.

“It won’t happen quickly or easily, but if we persist, they will have the chance to take their destiny into their own hands.”

The Israeli Defense Forces has launched a new wave of air strikes in Tehran following claims the millitary had killed Iran’s top security official overnight.

“IDF launches wave of extensive strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran,” an Israeli military account posted on social media.

A high-tech Australian military surveillance plane deployed to the Middle East is providing valuable data to a United States run military operation centre which is coordinating strikes against Iran.

Last week the Albanese government announced the deployment of the Royal Australian Air Force’s E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to the Middle East to help defend gulf states from Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has now confirmed information collected by the E-7A Wedgetail is being processed by the Combined Air Operations Centre, a facility which provides the command and control of airpower for the Pentagon’s Central Command.

Read the full story.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani was in fact killed during the overnight strike.

Iran has not confirmed the death, and state media said a letter from Larijani would be published soon.

In his statement, Katz said that the top Iranian security official’s death was confirmed on Tuesday.

If confirmed, it would be the most senior Iranian official killed since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the once supreme leader who was killed as the war began.

If you are just joining us, welcome to our live, rolling coverage of the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Here’s a quick look at Tuesday’s key developments:

• Australia and New Zealand are set to ramp up their military integration for a ‘greater joint force’ as the war escalates.
• The Israeli military has killed Iran’s resistance unit commander while also targeting their head of security in overnight strikes.
• The UAE briefly closed its airspace following a barrage of drone and missile attacks from Iran. They have reopened but are prepared to close again at a moments notice.
• A strike on Baghdad killed four people, with reports suggesting two of those were Iranian advisors.
• Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed that the nation has not received any request from the US for military assistance in the Strait of Hormuz.

In another blow to Iran’s forces, Israeli military have confirmed a targeted attack on Iran’s National Security Council Ali Larijani.

Local media confirmed the reports, but it is unclear whether he is dead or injured.

Iran has not commented on the report.

The Israeli military claims it has killed Iran’s commander of the Basij resistance unit Gholamreza Soleimani.

Revealing the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ all-volunteer Basij force was eliminated on Monday in a targeted attack.

The all-volunteer force that he commanded since 2019 led supressions of protests in the Islamic Republic, spreading terror with widespread arrests and violent use of force against civilian protesters.

“Under Soleimani, the Basij unit led the main repression operations in Iran, employing severe violence, widespread arrests, and the use of force against civilian demonstrators,” the IDF statement said.

Iran is yet to acknowledge the death.

Australia and New Zealand will ramp up their military integration for a “greater joint force“ amid the backdrop of escalating conflict in the Middle East and strategic competition in the region.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the nations were striving for a “similar concept of readiness”, aligning strategic military stockpiles, ramping up joint training exercised and pursuing defence industry co-production, sustainment, and procurement opportunities.

“We will be cooperating and working together more in exercises this year in respect of preparedness,” Mr Marles said,

“We’re particularly focused in the world today on the question of readiness, and we are looking at how we can cooperate more in respect of both of our defence forces operating under a similar concept of readiness.”

​Read the full story.​

Last year Labor celebrated Donald Trump’s antics as his chaotic return to the White House spooked Australian voters during the federal election campaign and helped push them towards the government.

Now, ten months on, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and his colleagues are likely cursing the US President, as the war in the Middle East continues to drive up inflation and petrol prices, further hurting Australian household budgets and confidence.

“The economic impacts are substantial, not just on us, but on other countries around the world, and the key thing that will determine just how tough those consequences are will be how long the war continues for,” Dr Chalmers told reporters in Canberra.

“We know we had an inflation challenge already in our economy. Developments in the Middle East are already making that challenge harder, rather than easier, and the Reserve Bank Board has taken this decision independently today.”

Read the full story.