Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib. Click to see full-size image. (Khamenei.ir)
Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on March 18 that Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmaeil Khatib, was killed in an Israeli strike in Tehran, the capital of the Islamic Republic, overnight, adding that “significant surprises” are to be expected.
“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. The Iranian intelligence minister Khatib was also eliminated overnight,” he added.
Katz also revealed that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “authorized the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) to [eliminate] any senior Iranian figure… without the need for additional approval.”
Khatib had served as intelligence minister since 2021, under both President Ebrahim Raisi and President Masoud Pezeshkian. A former student of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his career includes leading the judiciary’s intelligence branch and overseeing security at the influential Astan Quds Razavi foundation.
Following Katz’s announcement, the IDF also confirms that Khatib was killed in a strike in Tehran overnight. The military said in a statement that the Intelligence Ministry is “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,” it added.
The IDF also accused Khatib of cracking down on protests in Iran earlier this year, and said that he led the ministry’s “terror activities against Israeli and American targets around the world, as well as activities directed against targets within Israel” during the current war.
A day earlier, Israel assassinated Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, and Basij paramilitary force commander Gholamreza Soleimani. Thousands gathered to bid farewell to the two senior officials and others killed along with them, including Larijani’s son, in Tehran on March 18.
The latest assassinations were, without a doubt, a success for Israeli military and intelligence. However, they appear to have absolutely no impact on the Iranian command and control chain. Just overnight, the Islamic Republic carried out one of its largest missile strikes against Israel, killing at least two.
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iranian terrorists go boom-boom bye-bye!!!
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degenerate jew only assassinate cuz they like to copulate w superior dead persians
iranians do not fear martyrdom. they would live for goodness than sin. the question is how many years can iran control of the straight of hormuz? in fact they may control it for the next ten thousand years. many will be willing to die to keep it safe
looks like s-f ministry of information aka anna ukolov just got rid of mine and several other posts “again”….