Israel claimed on Wednesday to have killed a third senior Iranian figure in 24 hours, stating that its forces had “eliminated” Tehran’s intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, in an overnight strike.

If confirmed, his death would follow those of Ali Larijani, the head of the supreme national security apparatus, and the commander of the Basij militia, Gholamreza Soleimani.

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, who claimed Khatib had been killed, said he and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had authorised the military to kill any other senior Iranian official being targeted, without the need for additional approval.

“On this day, significant surprises are expected across all arenas that will escalate the war we are conducting against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon,” Katz said during a security assessment, according to remarks provided by his office. “The intensity of the strikes in Iran is increasing.”

The US-Israeli war on Iran has now entered its third week, with at least 2,000 people reported killed and no clear end in sight. The strait of Hormuz remains largely closed; US allies have resisted calls from Donald Trump to help reopen the vital shipping lane, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass.

In a post on his Truth Social network on Wednesday, the US president appeared to be suggesting that the US could “finish off” Iran and then leave responsibility for securing the strait of Hormuz to allied countries that depend on it, a familiar nod to his longstanding complaints about burden-sharing.

“I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Straight?’,” Trump said. “That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!!”

According to Israeli sources reported by national media, the Israel Defense Forces have been gathering intelligence that allowed them in the past 24 hours to declare the deaths of three senior Iranian officials, including Khatib, who was close to the new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khatib was appointed as Iran’s intelligence minister in August 2021 by the then president, Ebrahim Raisi. A cleric with deep roots in the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus, his career spanned roles within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the judiciary, and he was sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2022 over alleged cyber operations targeting Washington and its allies.

The Israeli military said the intelligence ministry led by Khatib was “the Iranian terrorist regime’s primary intelligence organization, which also played a key role in supporting the regime’s repression and terrorist activities”.

The ministry “possesses advanced intelligence capabilities, overseeing surveillance, espionage, and the execution of covert operations worldwide, particularly against the state of Israel and Iranian citizens”, the IDF said.

Khatib had played a significant role in the brutal crackdown on the recent anti-government protests in Iran, the IDF added in a statement posted on X.

His reported killing removes yet another pivotal figure from the core of Iran’s political and security establishment at a moment of acute crisis, after the deaths of Larijani – a linchpin of the system, and the most senior figure to be killed since Ali Khamenei – and Soleimani, along with other senior paramilitary figures.

Taken together, the three killings suggest Israel retains detailed intelligence on the movements of Iran’s leadership inside Tehran, and is able to act on it, leveraging near-total control of Iranian airspace alongside the US to strike with apparent precision.

After the deaths of Larijani and Soleimani, whose funerals will be held in Tehran on Wednesday, Iran’s army chief threatened to launch a “decisive and regrettable” retaliation and responded overnight on Wednesday with renewed missile and drone attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbours and Israel.

Despite heavy Israeli and US strikes on its missile infrastructure, Iran appears to retain the ability to launch targeted attacks. Israel’s medical service said two people, a couple in their 70s, had been killed in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv.

According to Israeli officials, the couple were killed by Iranian cluster munitions, which Tehran has been firing at Israel since the start of the war. Even when intercepted by Israel’s air defence systems, such weapons can remain highly dangerous: their submunitions disperse mid-air and may fall over urban areas, detonating on impact or remaining unexploded, posing a lethal risk long after interception.

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes struck central Beirut in the early hours of Wednesday, destroying apartment blocks in some of the heaviest air raids on the heart of the Lebanese capital in decades. Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 12 people had been killed and 41 wounded in the strikes.

The Israeli military said it would soon begin targeting bridges across the Litani river in southern Lebanon, again urging residents to flee north. Avichay Adraee, the army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, said the strikes were intended to prevent Hezbollah from moving reinforcements and equipment into areas where Israeli forces are operating. “To prevent the transfer of reinforcements and weapons, the IDF intends to attack crossings on the river,” he wrote on X, repeating earlier calls for civilians to move north of the Zahrani River.