By Parisa Hafezi, Alexander Cornwell and Enas Alashray

DUBAI/TEL AVIV, March 18 (Reuters) - Iran targeted Tel Aviv with missiles carrying cluster warheads in what it said was retaliation for Israel's assassination of Iran's security chief Ali Larijani, Iranian state television reported on Wednesday.

Israel has said that Iran has repeatedly used cluster warheads, which disperse into multiple smaller explosives mid-air and spread over a wide area, making them difficult to intercept. The attack on densely populated Tel Aviv overnight on Tuesday killed two people, bringing the death toll in Israel from the war to at least 14.

In Iran, a projectile hit an area near the Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday evening, however it caused no damage or injuries, Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi reiterated his call for maximum restraint during the conflict to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident.

Israel and the U.S. have said preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapons programme was one of the goals of the attacks they launched more than two weeks ago, which killed the country's supreme leader and many other top officials.

The Iranian government on Tuesday confirmed the killing of Larijani, the most senior figure targeted since the U.S.-Israeli war's first day, when an Israeli strike killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council, which Larijani led as secretary, said Larijani's son and his deputy, Alireza Bayat, were also killed in an Israeli attack on Monday night.

The targeted killings took place as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran shows no signs of de-escalation.

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has rejected proposals conveyed to Iran's Foreign Ministry for "reducing tensions or ceasefire with the United States," according to a senior Iranian official who asked not to be identified.

Khamenei, attending his first foreign-policy meeting since his appointment, said it was not "the right time for peace until the United States and Israel are brought to their knees, accept defeat, and pay compensation," according to the official.

The official did not clarify whether the younger Khamenei, who has not yet appeared in photos or on TV since being named last week to replace his slain father, had attended the meeting in person or remotely.

TRUMP SAYS HELP FROM ALLIES TO SECURE STRAIT NOT NEEDED

U.S.-based Iran human rights group HRANA said on Monday that an estimated 3,000-plus people have been killed in Iran since the U.S.-Israeli attacks began at the end of February. Iranian attacks have killed people in Iraq and across the Gulf states, as well as Israel. More than 900 people have died since Israel began attacks on Lebanon on March 2, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for a fifth of the global oil trade, remains largely closed as Iran threatens to attack tankers linked to the U.S. and Israel. Oil prices have soared.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly castigated allied countries in recent days for their cool response to his requests for military help to restore the passage of oil tankers through the strait.

Most U.S. allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have told Trump they don't want to get involved in the conflict, he said on Tuesday, describing their position as "a very foolish mistake."

"Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer 'need,' or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID!" Trump wrote on social media, also singling out Japan, Australia and South Korea.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in an interview that nobody was ready to risk the lives of their people in protecting the strait.

"We have to find diplomatic ways to keep this open so that we don't have a food crisis, fertilizers crisis, energy crisis as well," Kallas said.

The U.S. has given shifting rationales for joining Israel to attack Iran and struggled to explain the legal basis for starting a new war, underscored by the Tuesday resignation of the head of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent. Kent wrote in his resignation letter to Trump that Iran "posed no imminent threat to our nation."

US TARGETS IRAN COASTLINE

Iran has responded to the Israeli-U.S. attacks with wide-ranging strikes on its Gulf neighbours, some of which host U.S. bases.

Gulf Arab states have faced more than 2,000 missile and drone attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions and military bases as well as oil infrastructure, ports, airports, ships and residential and commercial buildings, and most of them aimed at the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi Arabia will host a consultative meeting of foreign ministers from a number of Arab and Islamic countries in Riyadh on Wednesday evening to discuss ways to support regional security and stability, the kingdom's foreign ministry said.

The United States military said on Tuesday it had targeted sites along Iran's coastline near the Strait of Hormuz because Iranian anti-ship missiles posed a risk to international shipping there.

Oil prices rose about 3% on Tuesday as Iran renewed its strikes on oil facilities in the United Arab Emirates, and are up around 45% since the start of the war on February 28, raising concerns of a renewed spike in global inflation. The World Food Programme said tens of millions of people will face acute hunger if the war continues through June.

Global airlines sounded the alarm on Tuesday over soaring jet fuel prices, warning of hundreds of millions of extra costs, higher fares and cuts to some routes. Global aviation has been thrown into turmoil, with flights cancelled, rescheduled or rerouted as most Middle East airspace remains closed amid fears of missile and drone attacks.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux, Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

Posted by: AAngeles/NET25 News