{"id":328276,"date":"2026-03-08T12:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T12:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/328276\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T12:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T12:35:08","slug":"irans-new-supreme-leader-has-been-selected-says-deciding-body-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/328276\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s new supreme leader has been selected, says deciding body | Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

The body in charge of selecting a new supreme leader for Iran<\/a> says it has reached a decision \u2013 although the name was not immediately announced.<\/p>\n

Israel has warned it would target any figure chosen to replace Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on the first day of the war with Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most suitable candidate, approved by the majority of the Assembly of Experts, has been determined,\u201d Mohsen Heydari, a member of the selection body, said on Sunday, according to Iran\u2019s ISNA news agency.<\/p>\n

Another member, Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, confirmed in a video carried by Iran\u2019s Fars news agency that \u201ca firm opinion reflecting the majority view has been reached\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba Khamenei, the deceased leader\u2019s son. Photograph: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran\u2019s late supreme leader<\/a>. In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also said it would pursue every person who sought to appoint a successor for Khamenei.<\/p>\n

In recent days, Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, Ali Khamenei\u2019s son, emerged as an early frontrunner. But his appointment is far from certain<\/a> as critics would view the move as entrenching a regime accused by rights groups of killing at least 7,000 people in recent months. In addition, a father-to-son succession is also frowned upon within Iran\u2019s Shia clerical establishment, particularly in a republic born from the overthrow of a monarchy in 1979.<\/p>\n

Under Iran\u2019s constitution, the 88-member Assembly of Experts is responsible for selecting the country\u2019s supreme leader. Khamenei, who ruled Iran for 37 years, was killed in a US-Israeli strike on Tehran on 28 February.<\/p>\n

The clerical meeting to appoint a new leader happened as fighting between Israel and Iran intensified over the weekend. Iranian strikes have hit energy infrastructure across the Gulf and Israeli attacks have targeted oil storage and fuel facilities inside Iran.<\/p>\n

A fresh wave of Iranian strikes hit the Gulf on Sunday<\/a>, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all reporting attacks. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted 15 drones, while strikes in Bahrain caused \u201cmaterial damage\u201d to an important desalination plant.<\/p>\n

\"TehranTehran oil sites on fire as Iran exchanges strikes with Israel and US \u2013 video report <\/p>\n

According to reporting by the Washington Post<\/a>, Fox News<\/a>, and other US media organisations, Russia has been providing Iran with intelligence that could help it target US military assets in the region. The Guardian is unable to confirm this.<\/p>\n

The recent attacks on Gulf states appear to highlight a clash within Iran\u2019s leadership, contradicting remarks made on Saturday by the president, Masoud Pezeshkian<\/a>, who apologised to countries on the Arabian peninsula and suggested strikes against them would end, provided their airspace and US bases were not used against Iran.<\/p>\n

According to analysts, Pezeshkian\u2019s pledge not to strike Gulf states exposed rare public rifts within the ruling elite<\/a> with Iran\u2019s leadership showing signs of strain, as officials of the regime scrambled to explain and reinterpret the president\u2019s words, which appeared to anger the country\u2019s more conservative factions.<\/p>\n

The Beirut hotel damaged in an Israeli airstrike that killed four people. Photograph: Wael Hamzeh\/EPA<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the Iranian military<\/a> continued striking the neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n

Overnight, US and Israeli strikes hit five oil facilities around Tehran, an Iranian official said, adding that the sites were damaged but the resulting fires were brought under control.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Israel\u2019s war on multiple fronts continued, with the IDF launching intense strikes on Lebanon, where the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah is based.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s assault on Lebanon left four people dead in a hotel blast in Beirut and killed a further 12 in strikes on southern areas of the country. Israel said it was targeting \u201ckey commanders\u201d in the Iranian military\u2019s Quds Force.<\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s health ministry said at least 339 people had been killed in the conflict. The Norwegian Refugee Council said about 300,000 people had fled their homes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AFP contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The body in charge of selecting a new supreme leader for Iran says it has reached a decision…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-328276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328276","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=328276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}