- By Raju Kumar
- Wed, 18 Mar 2026 06:34 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
US-Iran War: Israel claimed on Wednesday that the military killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib. The development came hours after Iranian state media confirmed Israel's military killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike, as well as General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard's Basij force.
Who Was Esmail Khatib?
Khatib was heading the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) since 25 August 2021. Considered a close aide to the late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, he was actively participating in the ongoing war. Born in 1961 in Qaen, South Khorasan Province, Iran, he studied Islamic jurisprudence in Qom. Khatib studied under prominent Shia scholars such as Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Fazil Lankarani, Nasser Makarem Shirazi, and Mojtaba Tehrani. He joined the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) during the Iran-Iraq War in 1980s and served until his injuries.
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Khatib had been tied to the cleansing and annihilation of clerics, intelligence agents, and guards who dared to pose a threat to Khamenei’s reign in the last 's record during the last 48 years. He had worked with Hossein Taeb, the chief of the IRGC intelligence unit, and his brother Mehdi Taeb, the head of the Ammar headquarters, who reports to Mojtaba Khamenei directly.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike struck an apartment building in Bachoura, central Beirut, completely flattening it as day broke. Two earlier strikes on residential apartments in other central Beirut neighbourhoods early Wednesday killed at least six people and wounded 24 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Basij Chief Was Killed While Hiding In A Tent
A senior Israeli military intelligence official said Israel killed the head of Iran's Basij force while he was hiding in a tent hidden in a wooded area under some trees. The official says Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani was killed with his top staff in the strike. The official said such strikes, which have killed many members of Iran's leadership, are meant to send a message that "they have no safe place". The account could not be independently verified.
The US-Israeli war with Iran has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, more than 900 in Lebanon and 14 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The US military says 13 US service members have been killed and about 200 wounded.
(With AP Inputs)