Mojtaba Khamenei (X)
“Unequivocal target for elimination” – Israel warns Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei’s son, that he is fair game for assassination.
By World Israel News Staff
Iranian clerics voted Wednesday to appoint Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new Supreme Leader, days after his father, the previous supreme leader, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Tehran.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts, a council of 88 Shi’ite religious leaders, selected the 55-year-old Khamenei, Iran International reported Wednesday morning, in a secret vote.
Long seen as the likely successor to his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba was selected despite fears among the Assembly of Experts’ mujtahids that the move could lead to the ayatollah’s assassination by either Israel or the US.
According to Dr. Eric Mandel, director of the Middle East Political and Information Network (MEPIN), Mojtaba Khamenei has been seen as one of the “architects of the regime’s” repressive policies.
Israel announced Wednesday morning that it would target whoever is tapped to replace Ali Khamenei.
“Any leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan to destroy Israel, threaten the US and the free world and the countries of the region, and oppress the Iranian people, will be an unequivocal target for elimination,” said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz (Likud).
“It does not matter what his name is or where he hides,” Katz added. “We will continue to act with full force, together with our American partners, to dismantle the regime’s capabilities and create the conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow and replace it.”
Israeli warplanes struck the Tehran headquarters of the Assembly of Experts on Tuesday in an attempt to eliminate Iran’s top spiritual leaders.
According to a report by The New York Times, however, the building was empty at the time. Fearing Israeli and US strikes, the Assembly of Experts met online twice in order to deliberate on a successor for Ali Khamenei.
Proposed coalition would also need Shas support, despite its endorsement of Netanyahu.
The agency last estimated Iran held over 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity.
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