Israel said it killed Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, in an overnight attack, intensifying a region-wide war that shows no sign of abating well into its third week.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, has been “eliminated,” along with the commander of Iran’s paramilitary Basij unit. Iran has yet to comment on the claim, which came amid ongoing strikes from both sides on Tuesday.

If Larijani’s death is confirmed, he would be one of the most high-profile Iranian officials to be killed since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the now 18-day long war. Khamenei has been succeeded by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, with Tehran maintaining retaliatory fire around the Middle East in response to the ongoing Israeli and U.S. assault.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that his military is “undermining this regime in the hope of giving the Iranian people a chance to remove it.” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar earlier said the war is effectively “already won,” but vowed to “continue till the point the mission will be completed.”

In the U.S., National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC the expectation is still for a “four-to-six week operation,” while adding that a longer war could “hurt consumers” and thus dictate a potential change of approach.

The comments came after Iran set a massive natural gas field in the United Arab Emirates ablaze overnight as it steps up attacks on key energy sites, the first time Iran has damaged an oil or gas upstream facility in the country during the war.

The move, combined with persistent blockages in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for oil and gas flows, triggered a fresh rise in Brent crude prices to about $102 a barrel on Tuesday.

Khamenei has rejected proposals for ​reducing tensions or for a ceasefire with ‌the U.S. that were conveyed to Tehran by two intermediary countries, Reuters reported, citing a senior Iranian official.

U.S. President Donald Trump has appealed for international help — from both allies and China — to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The effective shuttering of the strait has driven U.S. gasoline prices higher, piling pressure on the administration ahead of midterm elections in November.

“Numerous countries have told me they’re on the way — some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t,” Trump told reporters at the White House late Monday. “Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years.”

No government has publicly said it will send warships to escort commercial vessels through Hormuz. Many military analysts have said that, without a ceasefire, it will be dangerous to send ships through Hormuz even if they have armed escorts. Canada rejected the idea on Tuesday, with Foreign Minister Anita Anand saying the country had “no intention of participating in the military operation.”

Iran has attacked about 20 vessels in the Persian Gulf and near Hormuz since the conflict began. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait have all reduced oil output as a result of the blockage. Qatar, a top three supplier of liquefied natural gas, has shut down production of the fuel.

A trickle of vessels are still using Hormuz, most of them bound for countries such as China and India. The price of LNG, fertilizers, aluminum and other commodities have increased sharply since the start of the war.

Trump said he’d requested that China — among those he’s asked for naval support — delays a March 31-April 2 summit with his counterpart Xi Jinping for about a month. Trump said it was important for him to remain in Washington to oversee the war.

That decision came amid growing opposition to the war at home, including among his own supporters. Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official who twice received Trump’s endorsement in failed bids for Congress, announced he’s resigning in protest, arguing that Israel had dragged the U.S. into the conflict.

In parallel with the war on Iran, Israel is stepping up an offensive in Lebanon, where it’s fighting the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

More than 4,000 people have been killed across the Middle East in the war so far, according to tolls from governments and non-governmental organizations. About 3,100 people have died in Iran, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, while the Lebanese government says 850 have been killed there by Israeli strikes.

Dozens have died in Gulf states and Israel, while the U.S. has lost 13 military personnel.

Trump threatened to expand strikes on Kharg Island, Iran’s main export hub, to target oil infrastructure. That follows U.S. hits on the island’s military sites over the weekend.

Surging oil prices since the start of the war — up about 40% in the past two weeks — have pushed up U.S. gasoline prices. The average cost of a gallon of gasoline has risen each day since the conflict began to around $3.79, according to the American Automobile Association.

Trump on Monday said he was “very proud” of his decision to start the war, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. He argued that without U.S. action, Iran would have had nuclear weapons — something the regime in Tehran denies seeking — and that other nations should be “thanking me.”

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—With assistance from Shruthi Rajendran and Joumanna Bercetche.

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