‘Does not matter his name or where he hides’: Israel says Iran’s next Supreme Leader will also be a ‘target for elimination’

US-Israel-Iran War: Israel said it does not matter who the next Supreme Leader is or where he “hides”, he too will be a target for elimination. This comes after reports suggested that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been selected as the next Supreme Leader of the country by the Assembly of Experts. 

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said in a social media post: “Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people—will be an unequivocal target for elimination. It does not matter what his name is or the place where he hides.”

Katz said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to “act by all means” to carry out the mission as an objective of Operation Lion’s Roar. “We will continue to act with full force, together with our American partners, to crush the regime’s capabilities and create the conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow it and replace it,” he said.

Iran International reported that Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, will now hold the leadership position that holds final authority and is the centre of all matters of the state as well as Iran’s influential Revolutionary Guard.

Mojtaba is known to have deep connections with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that reportedly “heavily pressured” the group of clerics to elect him. A mid-ranking cleric, Mojtaba has served in Iran’s armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war. He managed the Office of the Supreme Leader in practice and is considered by many analysts as a key power broker within the system.

Meanwhile, the Israeli forces have said that they have begun a wave of extensive strikes targeting the infrastructure of the “Iranian terror regime in Tehran”. It also initiated attacks on Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut.