The official said the attack was made possible by a joint effort between U.S.-Israeli intelligence services and described Khatib as a central player in plots against U.S. officials.
“This man had American blood on his hands. His network specifically targeted current and former American officials, including President Donald Trump,” the official added.
Khatib had previously survived a sweeping attack on Iran’s top leadership at the “Defense Council” compound in Tehran during the opening phase of Operation Epic Fury, which killed more than 40 Iranian leaders in about 40 seconds, according to the official.
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Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib (center) sits with President Masoud Pezeshkian (center right) for a speech to parliamentarians in Tehran on August 17, 2024. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
He was reportedly the only person to survive the first attack.
Israel has attacked and killed several senior Iranian leaders since the war began, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, General Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Basij Unit, and Mohammad Pakpour, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Israeli military said Khatib played a central role in directing the crackdown on protesters, including arrests and killings during recent unrest and the nationwide demonstrations sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.
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People attend a protest against the Iranian regime in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, October 22, 2022, following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Islamic Republic’s infamous ‘morality police’. (Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Khatib in 2022 for his role in leading Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), which U.S. officials said was responsible for cyberattacks against the United States and its allies.
The Treasury Department said the department oversaw global cyber operations targeting government and private sector organizations, including disruptive attacks on critical infrastructure.
United Against Nuclear Iran, a nonpartisan advocacy group, Khatib said incorporated into the IRGC at the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980 and studied under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
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Hossein Amir Abdollahian (right) and Esmaeil Khatib (left) attend a vote of confidence in President Ebrahim Raisi’s cabinet at the Islamic Consultative Assembly in Tehran, Iran, on August 25, 2021. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
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He joined MOIS in 1985 or 1986, after it was founded in 1983.
The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program last week offered up to $10 million for information on senior Iranian security figures linked to the IRGC and its networks, including Khatib.
