Any new supreme leader of Iran will be a target for 'elimination', Israel warns
The New York Times stated that the senior clerics responsible for selecting Iran's next supreme leader met yesterday to deliberate, and Mojtaba emerged as the clear front-runner
Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz warned today (4 March) that whoever is chosen as Iran's next supreme leader will be "a target for elimination."
In a post on X, Katz said, "Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people — will be a target for elimination."
The warning comes as Israel struck a building linked to Iran's Assembly of Experts yesterday (3 March). The assembly is responsible for selecting the country's next supreme leader following the death of 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an Israeli strike on Saturday, which marked the beginning of the current conflict, reports UNB via AP.
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Following that, Iran's Assembly of Experts elected Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the next supreme leader, under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards, according to informed sources who spoke to Iran International.
The New York Times stated that the senior clerics responsible for selecting Iran's next supreme leader met yesterday to deliberate, and Mojtaba emerged as the clear front-runner, according to three Iranian officials familiar with the deliberations.
The decision has not been made public and is expected to be announced after Ali Khamenei is buried, according to Iran International.
It reported that it is not a routine succession, but a wartime decision shaped by the security state that raises serious questions about constitutional procedure.
The priority appears to be speed and control, as the Islamic Republic faces attacks from outside and a leadership vacuum at the top.
The elevation of the 56-year-old Mojtaba effectively transfers power within the same family for the first time since the 1979 revolution, fuelling criticism that the revolutionary system is evolving toward dynastic rule.
Mojtaba Khamenei has long been considered one of the most influential figures in Tehran, despite rarely appearing in public or holding formal political office.
Operating from within the Office of the Supreme Leader, he served as a central power broker and gatekeeper for his father.
Analysts describe him as an opaque but central architect of the regime's power structure.
