{"id":320250,"date":"2026-03-03T21:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/320250\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T21:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:40:09","slug":"israel-strikes-building-where-iranian-clerics-said-gathering-to-elect-new-supreme-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/320250\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel strikes building where Iranian clerics said gathering to elect new supreme leader"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday hit the building of a body tasked with electing Iran\u2019s new supreme leader, the IDF\u2019s spokesman said, after former leader Ali Khamenei was killed by Israel on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The assembly is tasked with appointing, supervising, and potentially dismissing the supreme leader.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe American-Zionist criminals attacked the Assembly of Experts building in Qom,\u201d south of Tehran, Iran\u2019s Tasnim news agency reported.<\/p>\n<p>IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin confirmed that the Israeli Air Force had struck the building in Qom where senior clerics were said to have gathered to choose Iran\u2019s new supreme leader.<\/p>\n<p>The Assembly of Experts has 88 members, though it was unclear how many of them were at the building at the time of the strike, according to an Israeli defense source.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel&#8217;s Daily Edition<br \/>\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">terms<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Channel 12 news reported that none of the 88 members were in the building at the time of the strike. Without citing any sources, the network said the clerics did not go to the building, and only clerks counting the votes for the appointment of the next supreme leader were there.<\/p>\n<p>Defrin said the results of the strike were still being examined.<\/p>\n<p>Local media showed footage of the building severely damaged in the strikes. There was no confirmed information on any potential casualties.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Geolocation of the building struck today in this video in the Iranian city of Qom. 34.62534, 50.87639<br \/>The building belongs to the &#8220;Assembly of Religious Experts&#8221; who select the next Islamic Revolutions&#8217; Supreme Leader.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nH9hNR5Tou\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/nH9hNR5Tou<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TgUGCYmmhv\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/TgUGCYmmhv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mehdi H. (@mhmiranusa) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mhmiranusa\/status\/2028831569960403229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Mehr news agency claimed that the building was \u201cold\u201d and \u201cis not used for meetings.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>Tasnim reported that strikes had already targeted the main headquarters of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Iran declared on Sunday the start of a transition process after confirming Khamenei\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>The plans include the formation of an interim leadership council, including the president, the head of the judiciary and a jurist from the Guardian Council, the body that oversees legislation and vets electoral candidates.<\/p>\n<p>Also playing a central role is Iran\u2019s top security chief, Ali Larijani.<\/p>\n<p>The interim leadership council will lead the country while a permanent successor is found for the supreme leader.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our wartime journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DH-new-headshot-circular.png\" class=\"attachment-square_large size-square_large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"crm-article-popup__counter-wrap\" style=\"display:none\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read  X Times of Israel articles in the past month.&#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n<p>Your support is essential to continue our work. 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Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday hit the building of a body tasked with electing Iran\u2019s new supreme leader,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-320250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}