Tel Aviv/Tehran: Israel, on Wednesday, claimed to have killed Iranian intelligence minister Esmail Khatib in an overnight strike.
There has been no confirmation from Iran regarding Khatib’s death though.
If the death is confirmed, it would be the latest in the series of most significant assassinations in Iran after the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, top security official Ali Larijani and the Basij force commander Gholamreza Soleimani, since the start of the war.
Khatib was appointed as the intelligence minister in August 2021, under ultra-hardliner and ex-Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who was elected at the same time, as reported by DNA.
Masoud Pezeshkian took over as Iran’s president after Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash. Khatib continued to serve as the intelligence minister.
He is known to have been close to Ali Khamenei and was considered a hardliner who could keep a check on Pezeshkian who was more moderate.
It is also reported that over the last several years, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) started intervening the authority and influence of the intelligence ministry, resulting in tensions and rivalry between the two institutions.
Initially, Khatib worked closely with the IRGC’s intelligence branch. He was later shifted by Raisi to run the intelligence ministry.
The US Treasury had sanctioned Khatib in 2022, over the Intelligence Ministry “engaging in cyber-enabled activities against the United States and its allies”, AP reported.
He “directs several networks of cyber threat actors involved in cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of Iran’s political goals,” the Treasury said at the time.
Iran had initially refused to comment on Larijani’s death, but confirmed it early on Wednesday.
Khatib’s killing was announced by Israeli defence minister Israel Katz, who said that “significant surprises are expected throughout this day on all the fronts,” without elaborating.
