The body tasked with selecting a new supreme leader for Iran says it has made a decision, although the name was not immediately announced.
Israel has warned it will attack any figure chosen to replace Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israel strikes on the first day of the war with Iran.
“The most suitable candidate has been determined, approved by the majority of the Assembly of Experts,” Mohsen Heydari, a member of the selection body, said on Sunday, according to the Iranian news agency ISNA.
Another member, Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, confirmed in a video broadcast by the Iranian Fars news agency that “a firm opinion has been reached that reflects the majority opinion.”
The Israeli military warned it would continue to pursue all successors to Iran’s late supreme leader. In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also said it would pursue anyone who tried to name a successor to Khamenei.
In recent days, Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, son of Ali Khamenei, emerged as an early favorite. But his appointment is far from certain, as critics would see the move as entrenching a regime accused by human rights groups of killing at least 7,000 people in recent months. Furthermore, a father-to-son succession is also frowned upon within Iran’s Shiite clerical establishment, particularly in a republic born after the overthrow of a monarchy in 1979.
Under Iran’s constitution, the 88-member Assembly of Experts is responsible for selecting the country’s supreme leader. Khamenei, who ruled Iran for 37 years, was killed in a US-Israeli attack on Tehran on February 28.
The clerical meeting to name a new leader came as fighting between Israel and Iran intensified over the weekend. Iranian attacks have affected energy infrastructure throughout the Gulf and Israeli attacks have targeted oil and fuel storage facilities inside Iran.
A new wave of Iranian attacks hit the Gulf on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait reporting attacks. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted 15 drones, while attacks in Bahrain caused “material damage” to a major desalination plant.
According to reports from the Washington Post, Fox News and other US media outlets, Russia has been providing Iran with intelligence that could help it attack US military assets in the region. The Guardian cannot confirm this.
The recent attacks on the Gulf states appear to highlight a clash within Iran’s leadership, contradicting comments made on Saturday by President Masoud Pezeshkian, who apologized to the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and suggested that attacks against them would end, as long as their airspace and US bases were not used against Iran.
Pezeshkian’s pledge not to attack the Gulf states exposed rare public divisions within Iran’s ruling elite, analysts said, and Iran’s leadership showed signs of strain as regime officials scrambled to explain and reinterpret the president’s words, which appeared to anger the country’s more conservative factions.
However, the Iranian army continued to attack neighboring countries.
Overnight, US and Israeli strikes hit five oil facilities around Tehran, an Iranian official said, adding that the sites were damaged but the resulting fires were controlled.
Meanwhile, Israel’s multi-front war continued, with the IDF launching intense attacks on Lebanon, where the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah is based.
Israel’s attack on Lebanon left four dead in the explosion of a hotel in Beirut and another 12 deaths in attacks in southern areas of the country. Israel said it was targeting “key commanders” of the Iranian military’s Quds Force.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 339 people had died in the conflict. The Norwegian Refugee Council said some 300,000 people had fled their homes.
AFP contributed to this report.
