Israel reportedly struck Iran’s Assembly of Experts in Qom to disrupt the selection of a new supreme leader following Ali Khamenei’s assassination, as US and Israeli forces expanded attacks on Iranian and Hezbollah targets while Washington declared Tehran’s leadership and military structure effectively dismantled.
- Iranian media said US and Israeli strikes hit the Assembly of Experts in Qom and Tehran, with unconfirmed reports that a session to choose the next supreme leader was targeted.
- Israeli strike in Tehran targeted IRGC Quds Force commander Davoud Alizadeh, the Times of Israel reported, citing defense sources.
- President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran’s air defences, air force, navy and leadership were “gone” and that Tehran now wants to talk, but that it is “too late” for negotiations.
- Israel launched simultaneous airstrikes on Iranian and Hezbollah military targets in Tehran and Beirut on Tuesday, the IDF said.
- The US will continue to act against imminent threats from Iran, CENTCOM said on Tuesday.
- A member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said on Tuesday that the appointment of a new Supreme Leader would be swift, days after Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes.
Israel’s air force struck the building housing Iran’s Council of Experts in the holy city of Qom on Tuesday in an attempt to disrupt the process of appointing a new supreme leader, Axios reported, citing an Israeli defense official.
The official said the strike occurred while votes were being counted and that the aim was to prevent the clerical body from selecting a successor to former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated on Saturday in the first wave of Israeli strikes.
“We wanted to prevent them from picking a new supreme leader,” Axios quoted the unnamed Israeli official as saying.
It was not immediately clear how many of the council’s 88 members were in the building at the time or the extent of the damage, the report said.