THE director of the US National Counterterrorism Centre resigned today over President Donald Trump’s decision to launch his unprovoked and illegal war against Iran.

Joe Kent, a former Trump supporter, took to social media to say he could not “in good conscience support the ongoing war” because the Islamic Republic posed “no imminent threat to our nations.”

It is “clear” that the attack on Iran was sparked by “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” he added.

In his resignation letter to the president, Mr Kent accused “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media” of having “deployed a misinformation campaign” to “encourage a war with Iran.”

As the war showed no sign of ending, Israel claimed today to have killed two senior Iranian security officials in air strikes the night before.

Iran did not immediately confirm either death, but it continued missile and drone attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbours and Israel.

Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani and General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were “eliminated last night,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said. 

Mr Larijani was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an air strike on the first day of the war.

Gen Soleimani also was sanctioned by the US, as well as the European Union and other nations, for his role in suppressing protests.

New Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since succeeding his father. The US and Israel say they suspect he has been wounded, though their public threats to kill him would make keeping a low profile logical.

The Israeli military also said it had begun a “wide-scale wave of strikes” across the Iranian capital Tehran and was stepping up strikes in Lebanon targeting resistance group Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Iran carried out new attacks on oil infrastructure throughout the region.

Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace, the second disruption in as many days. 

The Iranians also hit an oil facility in Fujairah, which is part of the United Arab Emirates.

Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has sparked a global energy crisis and is shaking the world economy.

“They are flying, launching missiles. Should we just sit back and do nothing in response?” Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf asked on television.