So here's what's happening in the Middle East: Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib was "eliminated" in a strike overnight. That's a pretty direct statement, but there's a catch—Iran hasn't confirmed it yet. So we've got Israeli claims on one side and radio silence from Tehran on the other.

According to reports, Katz also dropped another interesting detail: he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have given the military authorization to go after any other senior Iranian official being targeted without needing to ask for permission first. That's essentially a standing order, which suggests Israel expects more operations in this vein.

This news comes just a day after other strikes reportedly took out Iran's security chief Ali Larijani and paramilitary force Basij's chief Gholamreza Soleimani. So if you're keeping score, that's multiple senior Iranian officials reportedly targeted in a very short timeframe.