Tehran/Tel Aviv, (UNI) The Iranian government on Wednesday confirmed that Esmail Khatib, the Minister of Intelligence, was killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike in Tehran.
This targeted operation marks the third assassination of a high-ranking Iranian official within a 24-hour window during the ongoing conflict.
Khatib’s death follows that of Ali Larijani, the head of the supreme national security apparatus, and the commander of the Basij militia, Gholamreza Soleimani.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, confirmed the killing of the intelligence chief, saying on X: “The cowardly assassination of my dear colleagues Ismail Khatib, Ali Larijani, and Aziz Nasirzadeh, alongside some of their family members and accompanying team, has left us in deep mourning.
“I extend my condolences to the great people of Iran for the martyrdom of two cabinet members, the secretary of the Shura, and the military and Basij commanders. I am certain their path will continue more steadfastly than before.”
Earlier, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz, said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had authorised the military to kill any other senior Iranian official being targeted, without the need for additional approval.
“On this day, significant surprises are expected across all arenas that will escalate the war we are conducting against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon,” Katz said during a security assessment, according to remarks provided by his office. “The intensity of the strikes in Iran is increasing.”
Israel’s Chief of the General Staff, LTG Eyal Zamir, commenting on the elimination of the Iranian Intelligence chief, said: “Last night, we struck and eliminated the Intelligence Minister of the Iranian terror regime, Esmaeil Khatib, and at the same time struck the commander of the Imam Hussein Division, who had not yet settled into his position after we struck and eliminated his predecessor.”
According to the Guardian, the Israel Defense Forces had been gathering intelligence that allowed them in the past 24 hours to declare the deaths of three senior Iranian officials, including Khatib, who was close to the new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khatib was appointed as Iran’s intelligence minister in August 2021 by the then president, Ebrahim Raisi. A cleric with deep roots in the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus, his career spanned roles within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the judiciary. He was sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2022 over alleged cyber operations targeting Washington and its allies.
The Israeli military said the intelligence ministry led by Khatib was “the Iranian terrorist regime’s primary intelligence organization, which also played a key role in supporting the regime’s repression and terrorist activities”.
The ministry “possesses advanced intelligence capabilities, overseeing surveillance, espionage, and the execution of covert operations worldwide, particularly against the state of Israel and Iranian citizens”, the IDF said.
According to the IDF, Khatib had played a significant role in the brutal crackdown on the recent anti-government protests in Iran.
His killing removes yet another pivotal figure from the core of Iran’s political and security establishment at a moment of acute crisis, after the deaths of Larijani – a linchpin of the system, and the most senior figure to be killed since Ali Khamenei – and Soleimani, along with other senior paramilitary figures.
The three killings suggest Israel has deep intelligence on the movements of Iran’s leadership in Tehran as well as the ability to act on it, using near-total airspace control with the US to conduct highly precise strikes.
