Israel says it has killed Iran’s intelligence minister
Iran’s then-incumbent Minister of Intelligence Esmail Khatib (C) sits with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (CR) as they defend his cabinet selection before his speech to lawmakers in the capital Tehran on August 17, 2024.
Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images
Iran’s Intelligence Minister Ismail Khatib was killed in a “targeted attack” in Tehran, the Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday, the third assassination of a senior official in just two days.
“Khatib played a key role in recent protests across Iran, including the arrest and killing of protesters, and led terrorist activities against Israelis and Americans around the world,” the IDF said. in question in a post on social media.
“Similarly, it conducted operations against Iranian citizens during the Mahsa Amini protests (2022-2023),” they added.
Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian confirmed Khatib’s death In a post on X.
“The cowardly murder of my dear colleagues Ismail Khatib, Ali Larijani and Aziz Nasirzadeh, as well as some of their family members and their team, has left us in deep mourning,” Pezeshkian said. he wrote.
This comes after Israel announced on Tuesday that Iran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Basij forces, had been killed. According to the Associated Press, Iran’s official judicial news agency later confirmed that Soleimani was killed.
Thousands of Iranians attended the funeral ceremony held for Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani, Basij commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gholam Reza Soleimani, and 84 Iranian Navy personnel, who lost their lives in Israeli and US attacks in Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, on March 18, 2026.
Fateme Bahrami | Anatolia | Getty Images
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council issued a statement confirming that Larijani was killed “along with his son Morteza Larijani and the head of his office, Alireza Bayat, and several guards,” according to the AP.
The IDF said Khatib was appointed to the post in 2021 by Iran’s late religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in attacks targeting senior Iranian officials at the beginning of the war on February 28.
Iran has since retaliated by attacking its Gulf neighbors and targeting ships attempting to pass through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
The war against Iran, led by the USA and Israel, entered its 19th day on Wednesday, together with Israel. initialization A series of attacks were carried out in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, which continues its attack against the Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Iran and its allied military groups have launched a series of retaliatory attacks in the Middle East, raising fears that the regional crisis will spread.
