Ali Mohammad Naini, the spokesperson and deputy head of public relations for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has been killed in strikes carried out by the United States and Israel, Iranian state television reported on Friday.
The U.S. is accelerating the deployment of thousands more Marines and sailors to the Middle East, two people familiar with the decision told NBC News.
What to know
- ENERGY ATTACKS: Iran exchanged strikes with Israel as the country marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year, and launched a new wave of attacks on energy sites across the Gulf. The attacks on oil and gas facilities have sent global prices soaring.
- IRAN’S WARNING: Israel killed another top Iranian official, a Revolutionary Guard spokesman, but Tehran defiantly vowed the war will go on and warned enemy officials and soldiers were not safe even on vacation in world tourist sites.
- MARINE DEPLOYMENT: The U.S. is accelerating the deployment of thousands more Marines and sailors to the Middle East, two people familiar with the decision told NBC News. The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), made up of at least 2,200 marines, is expected to deploy from San Diego in the coming days, the people said.
- ‘FINISH’ THE JOB?: The father of a U.S. service member killed in the Iran war told NBC News he never told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “finish” the job. Hegseth had said that “family after family” of service members killed conveyed that message after meeting with the administration.
- DEATH TOLL: More than 3,000 people have been killed across the Middle East. In Iran, Israeli and American strikes have killed more than 2000 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. At least 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, and 13 have died in Israel. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed, and two more died of noncombat causes.
- Sri Lanka – declined permission for two U.S. combat aircraft to land at a civilian airport earlier this month, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told parliament this morning.
- How long will the war take? Netanyahu has different answers in English and Hebrew. Speaking in English at a news conference yesterday, he said he saw “this war ending a lot faster than people think.” However, in Hebrew he offered a different sense of the timeline. “You, the citizens of Israel, are asking: ‘How long will this take?’ And I say: it will take as long as necessary,” he said.
- UAE police arrest 109 people for filming ‘events’ and posting ‘false information’
- Enemies won’t be safe in ‘tourist centers’ around the world, Iran’s military warns. A senior official in the Iranian armed forces has warned the country’s enemies won’t be safe in tourist centers around the world.
- Iran continues to attack energy infrastructure across the Gulf. This morning heavy blasts were heard in Dubai as air defenses intercepted incoming rocket fire.
- Today is the Persian New Year — known as Nowruz — and people in Iran are hopeful that the next one will be better than the last.
NBC
