Katz confirms Iranian intel minister killed, vows new surprises

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed on Wednesday that Israel had eliminated Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib in a strike Tuesday night in Tehran, adding that “the intensity of the strikes in Iran is stepping up.”

Speaking during a situation assessment on Wednesday morning, Katz declared that “we are in the midst of the decisive stage” of the operation and that “during the course of this day, significant surprises are expected across all fronts, raising the level of the war we are conducting against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

He described Khatib as being “responsible for the regime’s internal repression and murder apparatus as well as for advancing external threats,” noting that his targeted killing followed the “powerful eliminations of senior regime figures—Iran’s de facto leader and the head of the Basij ‘Murder Inc.’ organization, Larijani and Soleimani,” referring to former Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, former commander of Iran’s Basij forces.

The Israel Defense Forces said that Khatib, appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2021, oversaw Iran’s main intelligence agency, which the IDF called a key driver of the regime’s repression at home and support for terrorism abroad.

He previously served in senior roles in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence branch and was directly involved in crackdowns on anti-government protests and in planning attacks targeting Israeli and American interests around the world, the military said.

“Similarly, he operated against Iranian citizens during the Mahsa Amini protests (2022–2023),” the IDF noted.

“His elimination joins dozens of other eliminations of senior commanders of the Iranian terrorist regime throughout the operation, including senior figures in the Ministry of Intelligence, and significantly degrades the regime’s command and control structures,” according to the military.

The Israeli Air Force conducted a series of overnight strikes on Monday in Tehran, eliminating Larijani, who had effectively taken control of the Islamic Republic following the Feb. 28 assassination of Khamenei, as well as Soleimani.

“Israel’s policy is clear and unequivocal: no one in Iran has immunity, and everyone is in our sights,” Katz stated.

He and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “have authorized the IDF to eliminate any senior Iranian figure once the intelligence and operational cycle around them closes—without requiring additional approval. We will continue to thwart and hunt down all of them,” he said.

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