Felixnews.com – The Israeli military has issued a stern warning to anyone elected to replace Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Israeli government has emphasized that Tehran’s new leader will automatically become a “target that must be eliminated.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that the position would not be safe for anyone who continued the agenda of confrontation against Israel and its allies.
“Any leader appointed by the Iranian government to continue its plan to destroy Israel… will be a definite target for elimination. No matter what his name is or where he is hiding,” Katz said in an official statement today.
This aggressive statement came as the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 clerics, held an online meeting to determine Khamenei’s successor. The supreme leader was killed in a joint US-Israeli operation on February 28, 2026.
To be elected, a candidate must secure at least two-thirds of the council’s votes. However, the process has been overshadowed by a direct physical threat. US President Donald Trump, during his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday (March 3, 2026), claimed that recent airstrikes had killed many individuals on the shortlist of candidates for Iran’s new leader.
“Most of the people we were thinking about are dead,” Trump said. “There are other groups, but reports indicate they may also be dead.”
Israeli media widely reported that Mojtaba Khamenei (56), the second son of the late Ali Khamenei, had been selected as successor. Despite his strong ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia, his candidacy faces significant obstacles.
In Iran’s Shia clerical tradition, a hereditary transfer of power is not widely supported. Furthermore, Mojtaba was not a high-ranking cleric and had never held an official government position. Iranian state media has not yet confirmed these rumors.
Meanwhile, Iran is preparing for a three-day state funeral ceremony, which will begin on March 4, 2026. The public will be able to pay their respects at the Imam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran before the body is flown to Mashhad, Khamenei’s hometown in northeastern Iran.
Although the Assembly of Experts building in Qom was reportedly hit by a US-Israeli airstrike, Iran claims the body is no longer meeting there. The geopolitical situation in the region remains at a fever pitch, amid uncertainty over who will assume control of the Islamic Republic.