WANA (Mar 18) – Esmail Khatib, Iran’s Minister of Intelligence, has reportedly been assassinated during what Iranian sources describe as a military attack involving the United States and Israel.

 

Khatib, born in 1961, was a cleric who studied under senior figures including Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Fazel Lankarani, Naser Makarem Shirazi, and Mojtaba Tehrani.

 

He previously served as head of the Judiciary’s Protection and Intelligence Center from 2012 to 2019 and was also active in intelligence operations within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1980.

 

His career included roles in the leadership office and as head of security at Astan Quds Razavi.

 

Khatib was appointed intelligence minister in 2021 and later reappointed by President Masoud Pezeshkian, remaining in office until his reported death.