Iranians will bid farewell to their late leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran tonight. The event will last three days. The time for the funeral procession will be announced later when it is completed. Ayatollah Khamenei was killed when the combined forces of the United States and Israel launched airstrikes across Iran, including the Supreme Leader’s home office building.
Earlier in the day, Israeli media reported that Ayatollah Khamenei’s son, Mojtab, had been chosen as his successor. He will soon take over as Supreme Leader.
Senior Israeli officials told Ynet newspaper that the assembly is expected to formally announce Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new leader in the coming hours, but Iran’s official state media has not independently confirmed the news.
However, the Iranian government, through the Consulate General in Bombay, thwarted reports that Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen as the successor.
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The Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Mumbai said: “Reports circulating in the media about potential leadership candidates selected by the Iranian Assembly of Experts have no official source and are officially rejected.
While Mojtaba was said to have had a major hand in running his late father’s office, he was also said to have maintained close ties with the top echelons of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Quds Force.
Israeli media have described Mojtaba as having a harder line than his father and behind the violent crackdown on protesters in Iran.
Read also | Why Ali Khamenei may have welcomed the nature of his death
Reacting to the development, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that any leader appointed by the Iranian regime to replace Ali Khamenei would be “targeted for removal”, the Times of Israel reported.
He said: “Any leader appointed by the Iranian terrorist regime to continue to lead a plan to destroy Israel, threaten the US and the free world and countries in the region and oppress the Iranian people will be a clear target for removal. It does not matter what their name is or where they are hiding.”
“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,” Katz added.
Sanctions against Mojtab
The US Treasury issued sanctions against Mojtab in 2019. He was chosen to represent the Supreme Leader in an official role, although he was never elected or given a formal government position.
The US Treasury Department further stated that the then-Supreme Leader delegated some of his leadership responsibilities to Mojataba Khamenei, who worked closely with the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) as well as the Basij Resistance Force (Basij) to advance his father’s destabilizing regional ambitions and repressive domestic goals.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Ministry of Health announced that 219 injured people had been taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours as a result of the conflict with Iran, the Times of Israel reported. According to the ministry, a total of 1,274 people have been evacuated to hospitals since the fighting began on Saturday. Of this number, 96 are currently hospitalized while the rest have been treated and released.
