Esmaeil Khatib

Esmaeil Khatib is Iran's Minister of Intelligence, appointed by Ebrahim Raisi in 2021 and retained by Masoud Pezeshkian in 2024. He joined the IRGC intelligence wing in 1980 and built a career spanning the Ministry of Intelligence, the IRGC intelligence apparatus, and the Office of the Supreme Leader. Under Ebrahim Raisi as Judiciary chief, Khatib headed the Judiciary's Protection and Intelligence Centre. He studied jurisprudence under Ali Khamenei himself, giving him direct personal ties to the Supreme Leader network. The Intelligence Ministry under Khatib has overseen intensified suppression of protest movements including the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests.