Iran Monday named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader, signaling that hardliners remain firmly in charge in Tehran a week into its conflict with the US and Israel.
Fighting escalated on day nine of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran. Thick black smoke hung over Tehran Sunday after strikes on oil storage facilities had lit up the night sky with plumes of orange flame.
The US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s UN ambassador.
While US President Donald Trump has pressed for an “unconditional surrender”, Iran has said it was not seeking a ceasefire to the war and would punish aggressors.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would press on with the assault and strike Iran’s rulers “without mercy”. “We have an organised plan with many surprises to destabilise the regime and enable change,” he said in a video statement.
Iran and Israel-US conflict | LIVE UPDATES
8.30 am: US confirms 7th casualty in war
A US service member died after sustaining injuries during an attack last week in Saudi Arabia, US Central Command said on X, bringing the number of American troops killed in the Iran war to seven.
“Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East. The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1,” the CENTCOM said.
8.00 am: A hardline cleric at the helm
The big story overnight is still the appointment of Mojtaba, a mid-ranking cleric with influence inside Iran’s security forces and vast business networks under his father. He was seen as a frontrunner in the lead up to the vote by the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 clerics charged with choosing the new leader after Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israel strikes on 28 February.
“By a decisive vote, the Assembly of Experts appointed Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei as the third Leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the assembly said in a statement issued just after midnight Tehran time.
Mojtaba’s appointment will likely draw the ire of Trump, who said Sunday that Washington should have a say in the selection. “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long,” he told ABC News.
Israel, ahead of the announcement, threatened to target whoever was chosen.