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The Israeli air strike which killed Iran's security chief, Ali Larijani, has removed one of the Islamic Republic's most experienced and influential policy makers at a critical moment, BBC reported. 

Larijani was not a military commander, but he was a central figure in shaping Iran's strategic decisions.

As secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, he sat at the heart of decision-making on war, diplomacy, and national security.

His voice carried weight across the system, particularly in managing Iran's confrontation with the United States and Israel, according to BBC. 

Dozens of people are feared dead or injured at a drug treatment centre in Afghanistan's capital after an air strike that the Taliban government blamed on Pakistan, BBC reported. 

The centre in Kabul was hit on Monday evening, killing some people and injuring others, the government's spokesman said on X.

Pakistan denied striking any health facility, saying it "precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure" in Kabul and the eastern province of Nangahar, according to BBC. 

Persian Gulf states did not ask the U.S. to go to war with Iran, but many are now urging it not to stop short by leaving the Islamic Republic still able to threaten the Gulf’s oil lifeline and the economies that depend on it, three Gulf sources said, Reuters reported. 

At the same time, these sources and five Western and Arab diplomats said Washington was pressing Gulf states to join the U.S.-Israeli war. According to three of them, U.S. President Donald Trump wants to show regional backing for the campaign to bolster its international legitimacy as well as support at home.

“There is a wide feeling across the Gulf that Iran has crossed every red line with every Gulf country,” said Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Saudi-based Gulf Research Center and familiar with government thinking, according to Reuters. 

President Donald Trump was ​warned that attacking Iran could trigger retaliation against U.S. Gulf allies despite his claims on Monday (March 16, 2026) that Tehran’s reaction came as a surprise, said a U.S. official and two sources familiar with ​U.S. intelligence reports, Reuters reported. 

Pre-war intelligence assessments did not say that Iran’s response was “a guarantee, ⁠but it certainly was on the list of potential outcomes,” said one source, who like the other two requested anonymity to discuss the issue.

The president twice on Monday (March 16, 2026) said that Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Qatar, Saudi Arabia, ‌the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait were a surprise, the first time at a Kennedy Center board meeting in the White House, according to Reuters.