Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 03:42pm on 18 Mar 2026,Wednesday International
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed the assassination of Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, killed in an Israeli overnight airstrike on Tehran. Pezeshkian mourned the deaths of Khatib, senior security chief Ali Larijani, and military commander Aziz Nasirzadeh, alongside family members, calling the strikes "cowardly assassinations." Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed the operation, stating that Prime Minister Netanyahu had authorised the IDF to eliminate any senior Iranian official without requiring additional approval. Khatib had served as Iran's top intelligence chief since 2021. The killings follow Israel's confirmation of Ali Larijani's death and Basij commander Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, as the US-Israel-Iran war enters its third escalating week. (PC: X)
