Iran announced on Wednesday that it is working to quickly appoint a new supreme leader following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes over the weekend.
“We are all trying,” said Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts for Leadership, the body tasked with selecting a new leader.
“God willing, the leader will be appointed at the earliest opportunity. We are close, but the situation is a war situation,” he added in an interview with state TV.
Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that any successor chosen to lead Iran “will be a certain target for assassination.”
Khatami stressed the need for caution amid the threats, noting that the election of a new supreme leader was “imminent.”
The Assembly of Experts, composed of 88 members elected every eight years, is central to the succession process.
Iranian media reported that US and Israeli airstrikes hit a building in the holy city of Qom on Tuesday, which belongs to the Assembly.
The previous day, the Assembly’s main headquarters in Tehran was reportedly targeted, according to Tasnim news agency.
The country officially began transitioning leadership on Sunday, following Khamenei’s death, who had ruled Iran since 1989.
In the interim, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, hardline judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and cleric Alireza Arafi, also a member of the Assembly of Experts, are overseeing leadership duties.
