Israel has stepped up assassinations of top Iranian officials in recent days, in what the Israel Defense Forces said was a push to undermine command and control in Iran after more than two weeks of devastating airstrikes that have wiped out military infrastructure but not dislodged the regime.
The conflict continues to roil global energy markets. On Wednesday, an attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field sent energy prices soaring and triggered threats from Tehran of strikes against energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf.
In the space of two days, Israel announced it killed three senior Iranian officials. Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib was killed in an overnight strike Wednesday, and the day before Israel announced the deaths of Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, as well as Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij paramilitary force.
“The intensity of the strikes in Iran is reaching a new level,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement about Khatib on Wednesday. “Israel’s policy is clear and unequivocal: no one in Iran has immunity, and everyone is a target.”
It’s unclear what impact the assassinations are having on Iran’s war effort and governing structure. The Iranian regime’s grip on power remains strong, according to U.S. intelligence assessments, and Iranian retaliation continues, with Tehran steadily widening its range targets.
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday said air defenses responded to “a ballistic threat” targeting Riyadh. Residents of the Saudi capital reported loud explosions audible from the city center. After the strike on the South Pars gas field, Iran said energy infrastructure in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia would now be considered “legitimate targets.”
The strike on South Pars was “dangerous & irresponsible,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, said in a post on X. “Targeting energy infrastructure constitutes a threat to global energy security.”
Khatib’s death was confirmed by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in an X post in which he also mourned the loss of Larijani and Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, who was killed on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. “I am certain their path will continue more steadfastly than before,” he said.
The strikes in Iran came as Israel also intensified its offensive in Lebanon, striking in the heart of the capital throughout the night before launching a campaign targeting all bridges on the Litani River — a rare assault on Lebanese state infrastructure.
The sound of gunfire crackled through the heart of Beirut at 4 a.m., alerting residents in the Bachoura neighborhood that the Israeli military had posted an evacuation warning for a residential building there on social media. About 90 minutes later, an airstrike hit the lower floors of the building and leveled it — the first time in this war that the Israeli military has brought down an entire building in an area that would usually be considered safe.
Entire building brought down in the middle of Beirut at 05:30 in the morning https://t.co/zOIydh6Brw pic.twitter.com/l5Lafzkn0t
— Abbie Cheeseman (@cheesemanab) March 18, 2026
Israel’s razing of the building in the very center of Beirut appeared to signal a new reality to both the Lebanese government and civilians that nowhere could be considered safe, following threats from Israeli military leaders to turn parts of Lebanon into Gaza-like devastation unless there is immediate action to disarm Hezbollah. The Lebanese government has said it cannot disarm Hezbollah while under attack, and analysts have warned that any attempt to do so could spark civil strife.
Israeli leaders have vowed to continue pursuing Iran’s senior officials, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that “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.
Graphic by Júlia Ledur.
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