Iran’s ruling clerics on Sunday appointed the slain leader’s son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader, defying threats from the United States and Israel to oppose his leadership.
Nine days after US-Israeli strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and plunged the Middle East into war, Iran’s clerical Assembly of Experts convened to select his successor.
In a statement, the body said Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, “is appointed and introduced as the third leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the decisive vote of the respected representatives of the Assembly of Experts.”
The statement added that the assembly “did not hesitate for a minute” in choosing a new leader despite what it called “the brutal aggression of the criminal America and the evil Zionist regime.”
US President Donald Trump had previously dismissed the younger Khamenei as a “lightweight” and reiterated on Sunday that Washington should have influence over the appointment.
“If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long,” Trump told ABC News before the announcement.
But Tehran’s top diplomat insisted the decision was Iran’s alone and warned that the country would “allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs.”
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also demanded that Trump “apologise to the people of the region” for starting the war.
Mojtaba Khamenei is widely viewed as a conservative figure, partly because of his close ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the ideological wing of the country’s military.
Israel’s military had earlier warned any successor that “we will not hesitate to target you.”
Air ‘unbreathable’
Overnight, Israel struck five oil facilities in and around Tehran, killing at least four people and sparking fires that filled the skies with acrid smoke.
Tehran’s governor told the IRNA news agency that fuel distribution in the capital had been “temporarily interrupted.”
A dark haze hung over the city of 10 million people, blocking out the sun as the smell of burning fuel lingered in the air.
Authorities warned the fumes could be toxic and urged residents to stay indoors, though many buildings had their windows blown out by the blasts.
“The blaze has been burning for more than 12 hours; the air has become unbreathable. I can’t even go out to do the daily shopping,” said a 35-year-old Tehran resident.
“At first I supported this war. After Khamenei’s death I celebrated with friends, we drank wine and danced.
“But since yesterday… people say there’s not even any gasoline left at the gas stations,” she said in a text message to contacts in Europe.
As the conflict entered its ninth day, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had enough supplies to continue their drone and missile campaign across the Middle East for up to six months.
Several explosions were heard over Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv after the Israeli military said it had detected a salvo of Iranian missiles. The Magen David Adom emergency service reported six people wounded in central Israel.
Advanced missiles
Trump again refused to rule out deploying American ground troops to Iran but insisted the war was nearly won despite ongoing Iranian missile and drone strikes.
Revolutionary Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used only first- and second-generation missiles but would deploy “advanced and less-used long-range missiles” in the coming days.
Saudi Arabia said two people were killed and 12 wounded on Sunday when a “military projectile” struck Al Kharj province. Earlier, the kingdom said it intercepted a wave of drones targeting sites including the diplomatic quarter of its capital, Riyadh.
Kuwait said an attack hit fuel tanks at its international airport, while Bahrain reported damage to a water desalination plant.
Iran’s health ministry said at least 1,200 civilians had been killed and around 10,000 wounded, though AFP said it could not independently verify the figures.
Lebanon’s health minister reported that Israeli air strikes had killed at least 394 people since the country was drawn into the war a week ago, including 83 children and 42 women.
Two Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said.
Trump also attended the return of the bodies of six American service members killed in a drone strike on a US base in Kuwait last Sunday.
No clear way out
Analysts warn there is still no clear path to ending the conflict, which US and Israeli officials say could last a month or longer.
Trump has suggested Iran’s economy could be rebuilt if a leader “acceptable” to Washington replaces the late supreme leader.
On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV prayed “that the roar of the bombs may cease, the weapons may fall silent, and a space for dialogue may open.”
