Profile of a spymaster: Esmail Khatib, Iranian intelligence chief

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,154, September 17, 2021

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The new president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, has selected cleric Esmail Khatib as Minister of Intelligence. Khatib is a radical Islamist with close ties to both Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. During his tenure, we c…