DUBAI/JERUSALEM/BEIRUT(RAHNUMA): 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 authorized the military to target any senior Iranian official it can locate.
Israel also hit central Beirut, destroying apartment buildings in some of the most intense airstrikes on the Lebanese capital for decades, Israel’s other front in the war it launched with the United States against Iran.
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.
“No one in Iran has immunity and everyone is in the crosshairs,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
“The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and I have authorized 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.
NO SIGN OF DE-ESCALATION
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.
Nearly three weeks into the conflict, there is no sign of de-escalation. An unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies has raised the political stakes for US President Donald Trump. Diesel prices in the United States rose above $5 a gallon for the first time since the 2022 inflation surge that eroded support for his predecessor Joe Biden.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has rejected proposals conveyed to Tehran by intermediary countries to de-escalate the conflict, saying that the United States and Israel must first be “brought to their knees,” according to a senior Iranian official who asked not to be identified.
In a second major front in the war, Israel has stepped up strikes on Lebanon and a ground assault in the south in pursuit of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which has fired across the border in solidarity with Tehran.
MOUNTING CASUALTIES ACROSS REGION
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.
Iranian attacks have killed people in Iraq and across the Gulf states. Fourteen have been killed in Israel.
