Israel claims to have killed Iranian intelligence minister Esmail Khatib

2026.03.18 11:20 Iranian intelligence minister Esmail Khatib attends the inauguration ceremony of the sixth Assembly of Experts in Tehran on May 21, 2024. Photo: AP Israel’s defence minister said on Wednesday that the Israeli military killed Iranian intelligence minister Esmail Khatib. Israel Katz announced Khatib’s killing and said that “significant surprises are expected throughout this day on all the fronts”, without elaborating. There has been no confirmation from Iran regarding Khatib’s reported death. Katz said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had authorised the military to kill any other senior Iranian official being targeted without the need for additional approval. Khatib’s killing follows Israel killing top Iranian security official Ali Larijani and the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force. Esmail Khatib was sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2022. Photo: Wikipedia The US Treasury had sanctioned Khatib in 2022, over the Intelligence Ministry “engaging in cyber-enabled activities against the United States and its allies.” Khatib “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. In another round of sanctions, the Treasury also called the Intelligence Ministry “one of the Iranian government’s main security services which is responsible for serious human rights abuses”. “Under his leadership, the [Intelligence Ministry] has cracked down on a large number of human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, journalists, filmmakers and members of religious minority groups,” it said. The ministry “has also aggressively persecuted individuals reporting on human rights abuses and violations in Iran, as well as their families, and subjected detainees to torture in secret detention centres during his tenure”. In June 2025, Khatib claimed Iran seized documents from Israel’s nuclear programme. The head

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