The Israeli army said it would target Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s successors amid the ongoing war in the Middle East
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have threatened to assassinate anyone replacing the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader.
Khamenei and several other senior Iranian officials were killed in the first wave of US‑Israeli airstrikes launched on February 28. After a week of deliberations, the Assembly of Experts, a body of clerics tasked with vetting and selecting the new supreme leader, announced on Monday that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, has been chosen to succeed him.
In a statement posted to the IDF’s Farsi account hours before the Assembly announced its decision, the Israeli army issued “a warning” to its members. “The hand of the State of Israel will continue to pursue every successor and every person involved in his appointment,” the IDF said, adding that it “would not hesitate to target” the clerics attending the Assembly’s meetings.
Last week, Israel struck the Assembly’s headquarters in Qom, but the attack failed to derail the selection of a new leader. Ali Larijani, Iran’s top security official, said Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment demonstrates that the US and Israel had failed to use Ali Khamenei’s death to sow chaos in the country.
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both cited regime change as one of their war goals.
Trump has demanded “unconditional surrender” and said Iran’s next supreme leader would not “last long” unless Tehran bows to his demands. Iranian officials and the military, however, vowed to continue their resistance.
