The Strategy Behind Israel’s Killing of Two More Iranian Leaders

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In the latest honor on Iran,

a top U.S. official resigns over the war,

while Israel continues its strategy

of taking out top enemy leadership

with the killing of Iranian security chief Ali Larjani.

While this is a strategic military achievement,

it's just not clear that it's gonna move the needle

in terms of regime change.

Plus, the Senate kicks off debate

on a contentious voter ID bill pushed by President Trump.

And finance bros say, hands off my Bloomberg terminal.

Even when AI claims to do the same thing for less.

It's Tuesday, March 17th.

I'm Alex O'Sullet for the Wall Street Journal.

This is the PM edition of What's News,

the top headlines and business stories

that move the world today.

The top U.S. counterterrorism officials said today

that he had resigned over his concerns

about the war with Iran.

Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism

Center, posted a screenshot of his resignation letter,

adding that he could not support the war.

And that quote, Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.

He also said that the U.S. had started the war

because of pressure from Israel.

It's the first significant departure

from the Trump administration due to the conflict.

When asked about it by reporters in the Oval Office today,

President Trump said that Kent's assessment was wrong.

When I ran a statement, I realized that it's a good thing

that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat.

Iran was a threat every country

realized what a threat Iran was.

The question is whether or not they wanted

to do something about it.

Meanwhile, in Iran, the country's rulers

have unleashed a new crackdown against domestic dissent.

In an effort to hold back the risk of an uprising,

security forces are using fear to keep a tight grip

on the streets.

Armed men ride around on motorcycles,

brandishing their weapons to intimidate people

and have set up checkpoints where they routinely stop

and search cars.

At least 500 people have been arrested

since the start of the war.

And on the topic of the country's leadership,

on this morning show, we mentioned that Israel announced today

that it has killed Iranian security chief Ali Larijani.

Israel also said that in a separate strike,

it killed Golem Reza Soleimani,

head of the country's repressive besiege militia.

Those two deaths are the biggest hit

to the country's leadership since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

at the beginning of the war.

It's also the latest example of Israel's strategy

of killing the leaders of enemy organizations

in an effort to weaken them.

WSJ reporter Anat Pellet joins me now from Tel Aviv.

Anat, who was Larijani?

What was his reputation as a leader?

Yeah, so Larijani was the secretary

of the Supreme National Security Council.

And he had a very prominent role in the regime.

He oversaw the violent crackdown

of anti-government protests in January that left thousands dead.

Interestingly, he also had a reputation diplomats

talked about this of being also a bit pragmatic,

more moderate compared to other people in the regime,

and someone that could talk to the West.

So just thinking about Israel's strategy here,

how does taking out the leadership

advance Israel's war goals?

Yeah, so Israel's gone about this strategy

in several other arenas.

We've seen this in Gaza with Hamas.

We've seen this in Lebanon with the Hisbalah militant group.

Those are both proxies or allies of Iran.

While this is a strategic military achievement,

in the long term, the problem is these groups

are still standing.

Hisbalah is shooting at Israel still.

It joined the war with Iran.

Iran's leadership planned for a war

in which many would be killed

and had prearranged replacements ready to step in.

Analysts do tell us that it could increase

the paranoia of leaders who know they are walking around

with a target on their back.

Because Israel has said they will continue

to go after leadership, political and military leadership.

It could also maybe complicate communications

as people become more nervous to communicate.

It could have results of degrading the regime

and making decision-making harder.

It's just not clear that it's going to move the needle

in terms of regime change.

And it actually has the risk of someone even more radical

or more hard-lying could step in.

And how does this align with the US's war goals

as we understand them?

Both Israel and the US, they opened the war

with speeches evoking regime change

and talking about the Iranian people taking to the streets

to topple the regime.

What we've seen since then is that both Israel

and the US have tempered expectations about that publicly

and have focused more on degrading Iran's military threat.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel

has still called on Iranians to rise up,

but the assessment is the conditions are not there yet.

And the exit strategy of this war is not clear.

That was WSJ Reporter, a not pellet.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks for having me.

And in other international news, Pakistan launched airstrikes

against Afghanistan overnight.

The Taliban government and an international aid group

said that the strikes hit a drug rehab center

and other locations, killing hundreds of civilians.

Pakistan has denied hitting the clinic,

saying that it carried out precision strikes

that destroyed militants, support, infrastructure,

and ammunition storage facilities.

There has long been a conflict between the two countries.

In late February, Pakistan said it was in a, quote,

open war with Afghanistan.

Coming up, today's market moves,

and why having President Trump's backing

may not be enough to make a voter ID bill into law.

That's after the break.

Voices are powerful things.

At Vanguard, investors are also owners

and their voices are powerful.

And they are powerful.

They are powerful.

They are powerful.

They are powerful.

Vanguards are also owners, and their voices are heard.

And now with investor choice, they have an even greater voice

when investing.

It's just another reason millions of investors

have turned to Vanguard for 50 years.

50 million investors, 50 million voices.

Vanguard.

Vanguard is owned by its funds,

but are owned by Vanguard's fund shareholder clients

to learn more, visit vanguard.com.

All investing is subject to risk,

Vanguard Market Incorporation Distributor,

figure as of January 2025.

To date, the Senate is kicking off debate

on new voter eligibility legislation

that President Trump has pushed hard for.

The Save America Act would require Americans

registering to vote to provide in person

to an election official documents

that give evidence of their citizenship,

such as a breast certificate or US passport.

The legislation has already passed the House,

but it's unlikely to pass in the Senate

because Democrats oppose it.

Journal reporter Anvi Bhutani joins me now

from the Senate Press Gallery.

Anvi, what's in the Save America Act?

Why has it been so contentious?

This bill's contentious primarily

because widespread voter fraud,

as alleged by President Trump,

has largely been disputed.

A lot of studies have found

non-citizen voting to be rare

and there are millions of Americans

that lack the necessary documentation

to approve their citizenship.

So, Democrats have estimated

that it's going to lead millions of Americans

not voting or finding it harder to vote.

The legislation also includes

creating criminal liability

for any election officials

that register voters that are non-citizens.

As I mentioned, this bill is unlikely

to pass because Democrats oppose it.

Republicans are bringing it to the floor anyway.

Why are they doing that?

Since before 2020, President Trump has

talked about voter fraud

and has wanted to crack down on that

and this legislation is his way to do that.

Republican lawmakers are definitely

in line with President Trump

and encouraging this legislation.

There are some Republicans

who are still wary of the Save America Act.

One good example is Senator Lisa Murkowski

of Alaska.

There are a lot of rural voters

who have to sometimes take a plane

to go into the county office to vote.

And those folks would definitely face barriers

if they had to first go away

and to prove their citizenship

and then go into vote.

So today's vote was procedural.

Now that has passed, what happens next?

That will kick off the debate

on the Save Act,

which could be a week or two weeks

or even longer.

And that's when individual senators

will have the opportunity

to also bring amendments

to this legislation.

And each amendment

we voted on individually

after which we'll see a vote

on the final Save Act.

Sounds like we'll be speaking to you again soon.

But for now,

thank you so much.

That was W.S.J. reporter

on V. Puthani.

Thanks for having me.

And in Illinois today,

there are primary elections

for the governor, House,

and Senate races.

J.B. Pritzker,

a Democrat, is running

for a third term as governor.

But he's also considered

a possible candidate

for the 2028 presidential election.

And his political brand

is at stake today.

That's because he spent millions

to boost Giuliana Stratton,

his lieutenant governor,

who is now running for Senate.

His involvement has

especially angered

the congressional black caucus,

which is backing representative

Robin Kelly in that Senate race.

Both Stratton and Kelly are black.

The Senate candidate

who's raised the most money,

meanwhile,

is current representative,

Raja Krishnamurthy.

Oil prices rose today

after more attacks

on energy infrastructure

in the Middle East.

Futures for Brent Crude,

the International Benchmark,

rose about 3% to more

than $103 a barrel.

But higher prices

haven't yet taken

a toll on people booking flights.

Today, Delta and American Airlines

raised their revenue outlooks,

while JetBlue and Frontier Airlines

lifted their unit revenue expectations.

Delta said that there was healthy demand

for corporate and leisure travel,

both internationally and domestically.

That demand's helping counter

the pain of higher fuel costs.

Delta shares closed up 6.6%.

Stocks overall ended the day higher.

The NASDAQ led gains

and finished up half a percent.

Energy shares

were among the strongest performers,

with Exxon mobile up 1%.

In other corporate news,

Arizona has sued

the parent companies

of prediction platform Kalshi,

for operating what the state said

was an illegal gambling business

without a license.

Kalshi called the charges,

flawed.

The National Association of Realtors

says that the number of homes

under contract in the US

rose 1.8% in February

from the month before.

The group's chief economist said

this was likely due

to greater affordability,

but could be reversed

if mortgage rates rise.

The war in Iran

has raised worries about inflation

that could keep rates higher for longer.

The US now has more

spots and gyms

than stores selling actual stuff.

That's according to data

on retail leasing

from the firm co-star.

Last year,

service-based tenants,

businesses like Salons,

Spas and Fitness Studios,

leased more space

than retailers did

for the first time ever.

That suggests

that Americans

are spending more on services

while retailers

need less physical space

to sell goods

because of e-commerce.

And speaking of e-commerce,

Amazon said today

that it's expanding

its one-hour

and three-hour delivery services

across the US.

An offer will be household essentials,

health and beauty items,

and over-the-counter medications.

The quick delivery comes

with extra fees.

And finally,

people on social media

over the past few days

have been duking it out

over a piece of business software.

A series of viral posts claim

that AI has created a

worthy alternative

to the Bloomberg terminal,

a computer system

ubiquitous among professional investors.

A new AI tool

from Startup Perplexity

promises to do

much of what the terminal does

for $2,400 a year,

instead of the annual

$30,000 that the terminal costs.

On X,

some users

breathlessly said

that perplexity's new tool

is the future,

and that quote,

Bloomberg is cooked.

But traders

and investment research teams

say,

you can pry my terminal

from my cold,

dead hands.

WSJ Tech reporter

Isabel Busquet says

Wall Street's obsession

goes beyond the financial

information the terminal offers.

Wall Street

traders are obsessed

with their terminals.

This is a fascinating

relationship.

Some people say

they spend more time

on their terminal

than they do with their spouse.

Some people

met their spouses

on the instant chat feature

on the terminal.

Everyone in the financial

services industry

is on it,

and you can message

them at any time.

I know of at least one

person who had a wedding cake

designed in the shape

of a Bloomberg terminal.

Another trader told me

that using his terminal

is like crack.

These terminals are

expensive,

so when you get the chance

to have one,

it's a

status symbol,

and it's a right

of passage,

and these people

spend hours and hours

on it,

every single

day.

It's also the real

time information.

They rely on that

for everything for their

jobs.

So it's an important

relationship,

and I think the idea

that AI could come in

and displace it was

sad and threatening

to them.

And that's what's

news for this Tuesday

afternoon.

Today's show is

produced by Pierre Biennay

with supervising producer

Tully Arbell.

I'm Alex O'Sullell

for The Wall Street

Journal.

We'll be back with

a new show tomorrow

morning.

Let's go.

Show.

Show.

Show.

Show.

Show.

Show.

Voices are powerful

things.

At Vanguard, investors

are also owners,

and their voices are heard.

And now, with investor choice,

they have an even

greater voice when investing.

It's just another reason

millions of investors

have turned to Vanguard

for 50 years.

50 million investors,

50 million voices.

Vanguard. Vanguard is owned by its funds, but are owned by Vanguard's fund shareholder

clients to learn more, visit Vanguard.com. All investing is subject to risk Vanguard

Marketing Corporation distributor, figure as of January 2025.