Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has threatened to eliminate whoever succeeds Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran’s Supreme Leader following his death in US-Israeli strikes on Tehran, targeting Mojtaba Khamenei as the frontrunner.
In a Wednesday X post, Katz declared any new Iranian leader pursuing Israel’s destruction, US threats, regional destabilisation, and domestic oppression “a certain target for assassination, no matter his name or where he hides.”
Mojtaba, 56, Khamenei’s second son with deep IRGC ties, emerged as the favourite via Iran’s Assembly of Experts under Revolutionary Guards pressure, per Iran International. A non-cleric ex-soldier from the Iran-Iraq war, he wields backstage power but holds no official role—excluded from his late father’s shortlist to avoid Shah-style hereditary rule.
The vow escalates post-strike tensions, with Mojtaba’s hardline IRGC links raising fears of intensified nuclear ambitions and proxy attacks on Israel, the US, and Gulf states.
Khamenei’s killing has sparked global alarm over Iran’s succession, power vacuum, and retaliation risks amid fragile regional ceasefires.
