Iran confirms Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib killed in Israeli airstrikenewsline24

March 18 (UPI) — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed Wednesday that an Israeli airstrike killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.

He said the targeted attack also killed Aziz Nasirzadeh, a military officer and former minister of defense, and members of the men’s family’s. Pezeshkian said the attack left him 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,” the president said in a post on X. “I am certain their path will continue more steadfastly than before.”

Israel announced Wednesday that it had killed Khatib in a “targeted” strike by fighter jets overnight.

Khatib’s killing was announced by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement in which he said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had authorized the military to “assassinate any senior Iranian official without the need for additional approval.”

“Significant surprises” were planned for Wednesday as the “intensity of the strikes in Iran is increasing,” added Katz.

The Israeli military said Khatib died in a “targeted strike” in Tehran, saying his Intelligence Ministry was central to the regime’s “repressive and terrorist activities” and that he personally had a “significant role” in mass detentions and killings of people participating in mass street protests in January and in 2022-2023 after the killing of student Mahsa Amini.

The Israeli military said the ministry wielded a range of advanced intelligence competencies, including “surveillance, espionage, and the execution of covert operations worldwide, particularly against the State of Israel and Iranian citizens.”

Khatib had headed up the ministry since 2021 after being reappointed to the position in 2024 by Pezeshkian when he replaced President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May of that year.

“[Kahtib’s] elimination joins dozens of other eliminations of senior commanders of the Iranian terrorist regime and significantly degrades the regime’s command and control structures,” the Israeli military said.

Khatib’s death came a day after the killings of two other senior regime officials, security chief Ali Larijani and Basij paramilitary commander Gholamreza Soleimani, in Israeli strikes early Tuesday.

The funerals of the pair drew large crowds in Tehran on Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier, Russia issued a rebuke to Israel and the United States over what it called efforts to “murder, eliminate,” or “harm the health” of Iranian leaders.

“We unequivocally condemn any actions aimed at harming the health of, or indeed murdering or eliminating, members of the leadership of sovereign and independent Iran, as well as those of other countries. We condemn such actions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.