NEW YORK, March 4. /TASS/. Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is the most likely candidate to succeed his father, The New York Times reported, citing Iranian officials.
According to its sources, the Assembly of Experts was prepared to announce the 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader as early as Wednesday morning. However, some council members voiced concerns that such a move could make him a target for US and Israeli strikes.
On Tuesday, Israel attacked the office of the Assembly of Experts in Qom. The building had been evacuated in advance and no one was injured. According to the NYT, the meetings to discuss the candidacy of a new supreme leader were held remotely on Tuesday morning and evening.
The United States and Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. As a result of the strikes, Khamenei and several other senior figures in the leadership of the Islamic Republic were killed.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were also hit.