Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Israel targeted a meeting of Iran’s Assembly of Experts in Tehran during discussions over selecting a new supreme leader, according to remarks cited by Fox News from an Israeli official, in a development that underscores rising tensions surrounding the upper ranks of Iran’s leadership.
The reported strike allegedly occurred while the Assembly of Experts the constitutional body responsible for appointing Iran’s supreme leader, was convened in the Iranian capital to deliberate on the succession process following the death of Ali Khamenei.
The Israeli claim has not been independently confirmed by Iranian authorities.
In a related development, Iran’s Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) quoted Assembly of Experts member Ali Moallemi on Tuesday as saying the selection of a new supreme leader “will not take long,” according to reporting carried by Reuters.
Moallemi said members of the body had sworn that personal preferences or political factional interests would not interfere in the choice of Iran’s next leader, signaling an effort to preserve the institutional character of the process despite the extraordinary circumstances.
Leadership vacuum fears
The succession issue has taken on heightened urgency amid warnings from Western analysts about a potential leadership vacuum in Tehran. A report by The Times suggested that Khamenei’s long-standing refusal to publicly designate a successor over nearly four decades left Iran entering one of the most sensitive moments in the Islamic Republic’s history.
According to the report, the transition process may face complications following the deaths of several figures previously viewed as potential successors during the same wave of attacks that reportedly killed Khamenei. That development, analysts say, could narrow the field of viable candidates and intensify internal deliberations within Iran’s clerical establishment.
The Times report also attributed Khamenei’s reluctance to name a successor to concerns about empowering a potential rival within the political system, a dynamic that has long made the question of succession one of the most delicate and closely guarded issues in Tehran.
Unverified battlefield claims
As with many wartime claims from both sides, the reported Israeli strike on the Assembly of Experts meeting remains unverified publicly. Iranian officials have not confirmed that such a meeting was hit, and details about casualties or damage have not been independently established.
The episode nonetheless highlights the extraordinary stakes surrounding Iran’s leadership transition and the broader regional confrontation now unfolding around it.
