Israel said it killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib in an overnight strike in Tehran, shortly after the assassinations of two of the Iranian regime’s most senior officials.
“The intensity of the strikes in Iran is reaching a new level,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement Wednesday, a day after announcing the killings of Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij paramilitary force.
“Israel’s policy is clear and unequivocal: no one in Iran has immunity, and everyone is a target,” Katz said.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a separate statement that the Israeli Air Force killed Khatib in a targeted strike in Tehran.
Iranian authorities did not immediately comment on the claims.
Over two weeks of punishing airstrikes have devastated Iranian military infrastructure but have not yet weakened the regime’s grip on power, U.S. intelligence assessments say.
Israeli leaders have vowed to continue pursuing Iran’s leaders, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying “crossing names off the list is good — doing it shoulder to shoulder with our American friends is even better,” in a post on X on Tuesday, referencing a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Khatib had been subject to U.S. sanctions since September 2022 for his role overseeing the Intelligence Ministry and directing cyberattacks, the U.S. Treasury said in a statement at the time.
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