Israel said on Wednesday it had killed Iran’s intelligence minister in the second strike on a top leadership figure in two days, and had authorised the military to target any senior Iranian official it can locate.
A day after killing Iran’s powerful security chief Ali Larijani in the highest-level targeted killing since that of the supreme leader on the war’s first day, Israel said it had killed Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has confirmed Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib was killed, Al Jazeera reported. He said in a statement on X, that the killing was “the cowardly assassination”.
“No one in Iran has immunity and everyone is in the crosshairs,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
“The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and I have authorised the Israel Defense Forces to target any senior Iranian official for whom an intelligence and operational opportunity arises, without the need for additional approval.”
It appeared to be the first time Israel has publicly stated that it would let the military target enemy officials without seeking special permission from political leaders for missions. Katz did not say when the order had been given.
In Tehran, thousands of people appeared in the streets for a funeral for Larijani and other figures killed in US-Israeli strikes. The crowd waved Iranian flags and carried portraits of the slain officials as a ?eulogist sang: “Martyrs are leading the way, they’ve become more alive, burning with love.”
Iran retaliated for the killing of Larijani by firing missiles with multiple warheads at Israel, attacks which Israeli authorities said killed two people near Tel Aviv.
Tehran said it fired overnight on Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba in Israel, and at US bases in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the US and Israel failed to understand that the Islamic Republic was a robust political system that did not depend on any single individual.
Meanwhile, Iran has threatened to attack oil and gas facilities in the Gulf region in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its South Pars gasfield as the fallout from the United States-Israeli war on the country continues to escalate.
In a statement shared by Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency on Wednesday, Iranian authorities said five facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar “will be targeted in the coming hours”.
The facilities are Saudi Arabia’s SAMREF refinery and Jubail petrochemical complex, the UAE’s Al Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Ras Laffan refinery and Mesaieed petrochemical complex and holding company.
The threat comes after Iranian state media reported that natural gas facilities associated with its offshore South Pars field – the largest gasfield in the world, located off the coast of southern Iran’s Bushehr province – were attacked.
In a statement shared by Tasnim, Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum said a number of facilities were damaged but no casualties were immediately reported. Iranian state media also reported that a fire at the gasfield was under control.
Quoting unnamed sources, Israeli media reported that the country’s air force carried out the attack.
Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday condemned Israel for targeting South Pars, noting that the Iranian gasfield is an extension of Qatar’s North Field.
Separately, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday temporarily waived a century-old shipping law to help ease energy costs that have surged since US-Israeli strikes on Iran plunged the Middle East into war.
Trump’s move to issue a 60-day Jones Act waiver would lift a ban on foreign-flagged vessels transporting cargo between US ports over this period.
The 1920 law was aimed at promoting American shipbuilding, but critics argue that it hampers free trade and has raised costs for consumers.
Trump’s latest move is “just another step to mitigate the short-term disruptions to the oil market as the US military continues meeting the objectives of Operation Epic Fury,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement.
US-based Iran human rights group HRANA said on Monday that an estimated 3,000-plus people have been killed in Iran since the US-Israeli attacks began at the end of February. Authorities in Lebanon say 900 people have been killed there and 800,000 forced to flee their homes.