The son of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes, has been chosen as his successor.
Iran’s clerical body have named Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader.
Mojtaba is now a marked man as Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have already threatened to assassinate the new leader.
Israel’s defence minister said last week that whoever was chosen as Ali Khamenei’s successor would be “an unequivocal target for elimination”.
US president Donald Trump also said that Iran’s new leader “is not going to last long” without US approval, warning that Iran must comply with his demands to avoid further escalation.
RT reports: 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 failed to use Ali Khamenei’s death to sow chaos in the country.