Israel claims it killed Iran's intelligence minister

Israel said it had killed Iran's inteligence minister, Esmail Khatib, warning that Israeli attacks would escalate.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced the killing in a statement on Wednesday during a meeting with senior military officials.

"Today we expect significant surprises in all arenas, which will escalate the war we are waging against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon," Katz said at the meeting.

"The intensity of the attacks in Iran is increasing. Iranian Intelligence Minister Khatib was also eliminated tonight."

He added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he had authorised the Israeli army "to assassinate any senior Iranian official ... without the need for additional approval".

Khatib is just the latest in a series of senior Iranian officials killed since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on 28 February, the day they killed Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader.

Earlier this week, Israel also killed Iran's security chief Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of the Basij paramilitary force.

Larijani was one of the most influential figures in the Islamic Republic, and had been viewed as a de facto leader for the past two weeks since the killing of Khamenei.

On Friday, he was seen on the streets of Tehran taking part in a mass rally for Al-Quds Day.

A day later, the US offered a reward of up to $10m for information on senior Iranian officials, including Larijani, in a list of 10 figures it linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.