Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian, has confirmed the killing of Intelligence Minister, Esmail Khatib, in an overnight strike blamed on Israel, making him the third senior Iranian official reportedly assassinated within 48 hours.
The announcement on Wednesday followed earlier claims by Israel Katz that the intelligence chief had been eliminated.
The development comes after the deaths of Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, who were killed in Israeli air raids on Tuesday.
Reacting to the incidents, Pezeshkian condemned what he described as the “cowardly assassination of my dear colleagues”, adding that they “left us heartbroken.” In a message posted on X, he stated that their “path will continue stronger than before.”
Reporting from the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said Israeli analysts viewed Khatib as a key insider closely aligned with Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
“According to Israeli sources, they said they have been gathering intelligence that allowed them in the past 24 hours to declare the deaths of three senior Iranian officials,” Ibrahim said.
Katz further revealed that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had granted the military standing authorisation to target other senior Iranian officials without requiring individual approvals.
“This is seen as another success from the Israeli perspective in targeting the Iranian leadership,” she said.
From Tehran, Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Vall described Khatib as a highly credentialed figure within Iran’s establishment.
“In terms of his credentials, he ‘ticked every box’ in Iran, having graduated from the influential seminary in Qom and previously studied under the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.”
“So he was really one of the top clerics, and he even has the title, Proof of Islam, one of the highest titles in the country. “He is really well placed, religiously, ideologically and with decades of experience in the circles of intelligence, particularly civilian intelligence,” Vall added.
“He’s a man whose killing, no doubt about it, will cause a dent to the remaining structure of the regime, the government. So that is what the Israelis are counting on,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the United States Department of State had earlier announced a $10 million reward for information on Iran’s new supreme leader and other key officials, including Khatib.
A funeral ceremony for Larijani and Soleimani was held in Tehran on Wednesday, according to Press TV, with officials and mourners gathering to pay their respects.
Larijani was regarded as one of Iran’s most influential political figures, having led nuclear negotiations with Western nations and previously served as speaker of parliament.
In an interview aired after his death was confirmed, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the United States and Israel had yet to understand that Iran’s system of governance does not depend on a single individual.
Israel has a long history of targeting its adversaries through assassinations.
Among those killed are senior figures from Hamas, including top political leader Yahya Sinwar, military commander Mohammed Deif, and political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran.
Other notable figures include longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon and former Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed Rahawi in Yemen, with Israeli officials indicating such operations will persist.
Since launching its war on Iran on February 28, Israel, alongside the United States, has reportedly eliminated several top Iranian military and political leaders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the conflict along with members of his family.
