Israel says it has killed Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, in an overnight strike, marking a fresh escalation in the ongoing conflict.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed the operation.
“Last night Iran’s Intelligence Minister Khatib was also eliminated,” he said.
Katz added that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given the military broad approval to target senior Iranian officials.
“We have authorised the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to eliminate any senior Iranian official… without the need for additional approval,” he said. “We will continue to thwart and hunt them all down.”
Iran later confirmed Khatib’s death through its president, though it did not immediately respond when Israel first announced the strike.
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The killing comes a day after another top Iranian figure, Ali Larijani, was also killed in a separate attack. Iranian authorities had warned of retaliation.
Fighting has since spread across the region.
Analysts say Israel is targeting Iran’s leadership to weaken its command structure.
David Khalfa of the Atlantic Middle East Forum described it as “a campaign of ‘counter-regime warfare’… aimed at dismantling the regime’s politico-security architecture.”
For civilians, the impact is growing.
One Iranian resident said leaving home now “is like gambling with my life.”
The conflict is in its third week, with no clear end in sight.