Top updates: Israel claims Iranian security chief killed in airstrike, UAE reopens airspace

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz claimed on Tuesday that the Iranian security chief Ali Larijani has been killed, Al Jazeera reported.

Iran has not yet commented on the claim.

The Israeli defence minister’s statement came over two weeks after the United States and Israel launched an attack on the Iranian government on February 28. Tehran has retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region, and targeting major cities in Gulf countries and some ships.

Here are more top updates from the conflict in West Asia:

• Israel’s defence minister on Tuesday claimed that Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, The Times of Israel reported. Tel Aviv also claimed that Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, was killed in a separate strike. Tehran has not yet commented on the claims.
• In Sri Lanka, AFP quoted an official as saying that the government has urged the private sector to declare every Wednesday a holiday. The authorities have suspended public ceremonies and asked government employees to work from home when possible to conserve fuel, the news agency reported.
• The price of benchmark Brent crude spiked 3% on Tuesday to reach nearly $104 per barrel. The price was about $72.8 per barrel on February 27, a day...

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