Top intelligence chief killed in Israeli attack

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards intelligence chief Majid Khademi was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Monday, Iranian state media said, without sharing further details.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that Israel had targeted Khademy.

“The Revolutionary Guards are shooting at civilians and we are eliminating terrorist leaders,” Katz said. “Iran’s leaders feel like targets. We will continue to hunt them down one by one,” he said.

Khademi was among 25 people killed in US and Israeli air strikes on Iran on Monday.

Iran also fired drones and missiles at targets in the Gulf and Israel. At least two people were killed in an Iranian missile attack on an apartment in Haifa, Israel late Sunday night.

Several senior Iranian security officials have been killed since the war began, among them security chief Ali Larijani and Mohammad Pakpour, commander-in-chief of the Guards.

Analysts have pointed out that the decentralized command structure has enabled Iran’s regime to continue coordinating attacks, even if senior officials have been killed.

The US and Iran have received a draft ceasefire proposal that calls for a halt in fighting for 45 days and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to unnamed officials speaking to news agencies on Monday.

The proposal came from Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators, and was sent late Sunday to both Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, the Associated Press reported.

Iran and the US have not yet responded officially.

An unidentified Iranian official told Reuters news agency that Iran would not reopen the strait as part of a temporary ceasefire, and would not accept any deadline for reviewing the proposal.

The report of the ceasefire plan comes after US President Donald Trump issued a new deadline for Iran to reopen the strait or otherwise face attacks on its energy infrastructure.

South Korean officials say diplomatic efforts are underway to secure alternative oil supplies as conflict in the Middle East continues to disrupt global energy shipments.

South Korea’s economy is heavily dependent on crude oil imports, about two-thirds of which passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

The threat of Iranian attacks on shipping vessels has largely closed the vital waterway since the war began in late February, causing a global shock in energy supplies.

In mid-March, Seoul released part of its strategic oil reserves to meet the short-term shortage.

On Monday, ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Do-geol told reporters that South Korean officials were working with oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman and Algeria to secure alternative routes.

This may include sending special envoys to assist in the process.

Additionally, South Korea’s Ministry of Industry is planning to deploy South Korean-flagged oil tankers on the Red Sea route. The tankers will be sent to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, from where crude comes via pipelines from the Gulf for export.

Israeli rescue teams are continuing to search for missing people after an Iranian missile hit an apartment building in the northern city of Haifa on Sunday and partially collapsed.

Firefighters said they were searching for two missing people under the debris. Two others were found dead earlier.

The seven-storey building received a direct hit, the army said. Dozens of Israeli security and rescue service personnel were deployed to the scene, according to news agency AFP.

Israel, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates reported fresh missile and drone attacks early Monday. There were no immediate reports of any major damage or injuries.

Kuwait’s military said its air defenses were working to intercept missiles and drones in the morning, after responding to similar bombings overnight.

In Abu Dhabi, authorities were responding to an incident when debris from an intercepted projectile fell on an industrial facility. One Ghanaian was injured by falling shrapnel.

And the Israeli military said it had identified missiles launched from Iran, which air defenses were working to intercept.

Hours earlier, Iran’s Central Military Command had warned of “devastating and comprehensive” retaliation if civilian targets in Iran were attacked.

The warning comes after US President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s civilian infrastructure if Tehran did not open the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s state broadcaster said on Monday that gas cuts were reported in parts of Tehran following an attack on a university.

“The attack occurred at the Sharif University gas station and we are experiencing a temporary gas outage in the Sharif neighborhood,” state broadcaster IRIB quoted the head of Tehran’s District 9 neighborhood as saying.

According to Iranian media, an airstrike hit a residential building near the Iranian capital Tehran early Monday, killing at least 13 people.

The semi-official Fars news agency and Nour News reported the attack near Eslamshahr, southwest of Tehran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Israel help the United States rescue a missing American service member whose fighter jet was shot down over Iran.

In a post on Twitter early Monday, Netanyahu said he had congratulated US President Donald Trump for “his bold decision and the perfectly executed US mission to rescue the downed pilot over enemy territory.”

He said, “I am deeply proud that our cooperation beyond the battlefield is unprecedented and that Israel can contribute to saving a brave American warrior.”

Democrats have sharply criticized US President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges in an expletive-laden social media post.

Senator Chris Van Hollen raised questions on Trump’s mental condition. “Trump is clearly unfit to be president,” he wrote on X.

Trump’s post was also condemned by Senator Chris Murphy, who called Trump “completely, completely out of touch.”

Senator Brian Schatz also said, “Bombing civilian infrastructure is a war crime.”

Thank you for joining us. Before we cover Day 38 of the Iran war, here are some of the key developments from Sunday:

• US President Donald Trump again threatened to bomb Iranian power plants if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz in an expletive-laden post on Truth Social.
• Iran has vowed to respond to any attack on its infrastructure if Washington follows through with Trump’s threats.
• America rescues missing crew member of F-15 fighter jet
• OPEC+ oil cartel agreed to increase oil production quota for May by 206,000 barrels per day