Iran Confirms Intelligence Chief Khatib Killed In Israeli Strike; President Calls It ‘Cowardly Assassination’
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed Wednesday that Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tehran, calling it a “cowardly assassination.” Israel had claimed responsibility for the overnight strike just hours earlier.
In a post on X, Pezeshkian said the deaths of Khatib, senior officials Ali Larijani and Aziz Nasirzadeh, and members of their families and teams had plunged the country into mourning.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday night that Khatib had been “eliminated,” and that the Israeli military had sweeping authority to go after high-ranking Iranian officials without seeking additional approvals. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have authorised the IDF to eliminate any senior Iranian official for whom the intelligence and operational circle has been closed,” Katz said. “We will continue to thwart and hunt them all down.”
Khatib had served as Intelligence Minister since August 2021, appointed by then-president Ebrahim Raisi, who was himself killed in a helicopter crash in 2024. The confirmation came a day after Tehran said Larijani had also been killed in a separate Israeli strike, along with Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force.
The fighting has been going on for over two weeks, set off by joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 that reportedly killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.