Israel Threatens to Target Meeting for Selecting Khamenei's Successor

SadaNews - The Israeli occupation army threatened today, Sunday, to target participants in any meeting that the Iranian Assembly of Experts may hold to choose a successor to the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, amidst the ongoing Israeli-American war against Iran.

 

The occupation army stated in a statement that "the long arm of the State of Israel will continue to pursue the successor and anyone who tries to appoint him," warning that any participation in the council's meeting in Qom to choose a new leader "could become a target for attack," as expressed in their statement.

This threat came after Iranian reports indicated that the Assembly of Experts, the body constitutionally authorized to choose the Supreme Leader in Iran, is preparing to hold a meeting soon to select a successor to Khamenei. The Fars News Agency quoted council member Hussein Mofidi as saying that the council "will meet within the next twenty-four hours," urging Iranians to "refrain from speculation and spreading rumors" regarding the process of selecting the new leader.

In this context, the Iranian news agency Mehr reported that Iranian Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammad Mahdi Mirbagheri announced today that an agreement had been reached among the majority regarding the choice of Khamenei's successor. He added, according to the report, that there are "some obstacles" that still exist in this process.

Iranian media reported that the body responsible for appointing the Supreme Leader of Iran had a minor disagreement about whether its final decision should come after a meeting in person or be issued without adhering to this formal procedure.

This comes a week after Khamenei's assassination in an American-Israeli strike that targeted the "Beit Rahbari" complex in central Tehran on February 28, during a meeting that included prominent military and security leaders, including the Minister of Defense, Chief of Staff, and Revolutionary Guards commander, according to media reports.

The strike coincided with a meeting that was supposed to take place between Khamenei and senior military officials, resulting in the death of several leaders along with Khamenei. In Israel, analysts considered Khamenei's assassination a significant shift in the trajectory of confrontation with Iran.

Tel Aviv considered the operation to place it in a "position of unprecedented advantage," in the context of a series of assassination operations it carried out over the last few years against leaders in armed groups and factions, including leaders in Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as Iranian military figures.

According to Western media reports, the operation was based on precise intelligence, including data provided by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) regarding Khamenei's whereabouts, along with information gathered by Israeli intelligence services.

The Financial Times reported that surveillance cameras around the leader's headquarters had been compromised for years, allowing the monitoring of the movements of guards and officials in the complex.

Conversely, Tehran emphasized that Khamenei's assassination would not change the course of confrontation. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ismail Baghaei, was quoted as saying that Khamenei "remained in the heart of Tehran despite warnings of an attack," adding that he "sacrificed himself for Iran."

Analysts believe that selecting a successor to the Supreme Leader could represent a pivotal moment in the ongoing war between Iran on one side and the United States and Israel on the other.