In a decisive overnight operation, Israel has reportedly eliminated Iran’s Intelligence Minister, Esmaeil Khatib, through a precision strike. This information was disclosed by a high-ranking Israeli official to Fox News on Wednesday.
The official detailed that the strike was the result of a collaborative intelligence effort between the United States and Israel. Khatib was described as a pivotal figure in orchestrating plots against American officials.
“This individual was responsible for American casualties and was directly involved in operations targeting both current and former U.S. officials, including former President Donald Trump,” the official stated.
Khatib had previously escaped a massive assault on Iran’s top leadership at the “Defense Council” compound in Tehran. This attack, part of Operation Epic Fury, resulted in the deaths of over 40 Iranian leaders within moments, according to the official’s account.
Within an image captured on August 17, 2024, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib is seen alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian during a parliamentary session in Tehran. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
Remarkably, Khatib was the sole survivor of that initial strike.
“Today, he met the fate of his combatant comrades,” the official told Fox News.
Israel has targeted and killed several senior Iranian leaders since the start of the war, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Gen. Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Basij unit, and Mohammad Pakpour, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Israel Defense Forces said Khatib played a central role in directing crackdowns on protesters, including arrests and killings during recent unrest and the nationwide demonstrations sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.
People attend a protest against the Iranian regime, in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 22, 2022, following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Islamic republic’s notorious “morality police.” (Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Khatib in 2022 for his role in leading Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), which U.S. officials said was responsible for cyberattacks against the United States and its allies.
Treasury said the ministry oversaw global cyber operations targeting government and private-sector organizations, including disruptive attacks on critical infrastructure.
United Against Nuclear Iran, a nonpartisan advocacy group, said Khatib enlisted in the IRGC at the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980 and studied under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
Hossein Amir Abdollahian, right, and Esmaeil Khatib, left, attend a vote of confidence in the cabinet of President Ebrahim Raisi at the Islamic Consultative Assembly in Tehran, Iran, on Aug. 25, 2021. (Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
He joined MOIS in 1985 or 1986 after it was established in 1983.
The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program last week offered up to $10 million for information on senior Iranian security figures tied to the IRGC and its networks, including Khatib.
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