Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz on Wednesday claimed that the country’s forces had killed Iran’s intelligence minister Esmail Khatib, adding that the military now has authorisation to “eliminate” any senior Iranian official without seeking further approval.“Last night Iran’s intelligence minister Khatib was also eliminated,” Katz said in a statement, AFP reported.The development comes shortly after Israel claimed responsibility for killing key Iranian figures, including Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, who headed the Basij paramilitary force.If confirmed, Khatib’s death would reportedly be the third assassination of high-ranking Iranian leaders in two days.Recently, the US state department had also announced a $10 million reward for information on Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei and other top officials, including Khatib.Katz indicated that Israel’s military operations were intensifying. “The intensity of the strikes in Iran is moving up a notch. We are in the midst of a decisive stretch,” he said.He further stated that he and Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had expanded the military’s mandate. “We will continue to thwart and hunt them all down,” Katz said, adding that forces have been cleared to target “any senior Iranian official for whom the intelligence and operational circle has been closed, without the need for additional approval.”Katz also warned of further escalation, saying, “Over the course of this day as well, significant surprises are expected in all arenas that will raise to a new level the war we are waging against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.”In a separate statement, the Israeli military alleged that Khatib had played a key role during recent protests in Iran, including involvement in arrests and killings of demonstrators, and in shaping intelligence assessments. It also accused him of directing operations targeting Israeli and American interests globally.According to AP, the US-Israeli war with Iran, now in its third week, has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, over 900 in Lebanon and 14 in Israel, according to officials in the respective countries. The US military said 13 American service members have been killed and around 200 others wounded in the ongoing conflict.
