OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
12:58 PM – Wednesday, March 18, 2026
The Israeli military confirmed the assassination of Iran’s Minister of Intelligence, Esmail Khatib, in an overnight airstrike in Tehran.
The announced strike marks the third high-profile assassination of a senior Iranian leader in just 48 hours, signaling an escalation in Israel’s “decapitation” strategy against the Islamic Republic’s leadership.
The operation, confirmed early on Wednesday by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, had targeted the headquarters of the Ministry of Intelligence. Khatib, a hardline cleric who has led the ministry since 2021, was reportedly killed alongside several aides.
“Significant surprises are expected throughout this day on all fronts,” Katz stated, adding that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have granted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) standing authorization to eliminate senior Iranian officials on sight without further political approval.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian later corroborated the news on social media, mourning the “cowardly assassination” of Khatib and describing the loss as a profound blow to the cabinet.
Khatib’s death is the latest in a rapid-fire series of strikes that have gutted Iran’s top security and military tiers.
| Date of death | Official killed | Their role |
| March 17 | Ali Larijani | Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council |
| March 17 | Gholamreza Soleimani | Head of the Basij Paramilitary Force |
| March 18 | Esmail Khatib | Minister of Intelligence |
This sequence also follows the seismic killing of the former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Israeli strikes on February 28th, which initiated the current state of open warfare.
Analysts and insiders say that the pace of these strikes indicates that Israeli intelligence has deeply penetrated the highest levels of Iranian communication and movement tracking.
Following the announcement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched multiple-warhead missiles toward central Israel on Wednesday morning. While the IDF’s multi-layered defense systems intercepted most, at least one strike near Tel Aviv resulted in two fatalities.
Meanwhile, in retaliation for the strikes and a separate U.S.-Israeli attack on an Iranian gas field, Iran has reportedly intensified strikes on Gulf Arab energy facilities and halted gas exports to Iraq, threatening a regional power crisis.
The IAEA confirmed on Wednesday that a projectile struck a structure just 350 meters from the Bushehr nuclear power plant, though the reactor itself remains undamaged.
Who was Esmail Khatib?
Khatib was a pivotal figure in the Iranian establishment, known for bridging the gap between the traditional Intelligence Ministry and the IRGC’s intelligence arm.
He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2022 for overseeing cyber espionage and ransomware operations against Western targets. Domestically, he was also a key architect of the deadly “crackdowns” on human rights defenders and journalists.
The removal of Khatib now leaves the Iranian intelligence apparatus in a state of unprecedented disarray as the country navigates a leadership vacuum.
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