![Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib attends the inauguration ceremony of the 6th term of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran, Iran, May 21, 2024. [File: Vahid Salemi/AP]](https://angelnetworknews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26077384975759-1773830966.webp "Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib attends the inauguration ceremony of the 6th term of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran, Iran, May 21, 2024. [File: Vahid Salemi/AP]")
Israel has announced the assassination of Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib in an overnight airstrike on Tehran, marking the third high-profile killing of a senior Iranian figure in successive days.
Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed the operation on Wednesday, stating Khatib had been eliminated alongside previous targets.
“Larijani and the Basij commander were eliminated last night,” Katz said earlier, referring to Tuesday’s strikes, “and have joined Ayatollah Ali Khamenei… along with all those eliminated from the axis of evil in the depths of hell.”
He added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he had authorised the military to eliminate other senior Iranian officials without further case-by-case approval.
If confirmed, Khatib’s death follows the killings on Tuesday of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij paramilitary force. Iran has scheduled funerals for both men on Wednesday.
Tehran has not yet commented on or confirmed Khatib’s reported death. In an earlier interview after Larijani’s killing, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US and Israel had “yet to realise that Iran’s government does not rely on a single individual.”
The strikes form part of the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign launched after the February 28 assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
