Israel strikes council where Iran planned to elect new supreme leader, — media

Israel struck the council that elected Iran’s new leader

On March 3, the Israeli Air Force struck a building housing the Council of Experts of Iran, which was to elect the next supreme leader (ayatollah) of the Iranian regime.

This was reported by Axios, citing an unnamed Israeli defense official, and also reported by The Times of Israel, according to Censor.NET.

What is known?

According to the official, the Israeli Air Force struck a building housing Iran's Council of Experts in the city of Qom in an attempt to disrupt the process of appointing a new ayatollah. The city is sacred to Shiite Muslims, who make up the vast majority of Iran's population.

The Council of Experts is a body of the regime that has the power to appoint the new leader of the Islamic Republic. The clerics who make up the council vote on candidates from a shortlist drawn up by a smaller secret committee.

According to an official representative, the strike was carried out while votes were being counted. The council of experts has 88 members, although it is unknown how many of them were in the building at the time of the Israeli attack.

"We wanted to prevent them from electing a new supreme leader," the official added.

Strikes on Iran

As a reminder, on the morning of 28 February, Israel launched an operation to bomb Iran’s capital, Tehran. This is a joint operation with the US armed forces.
Israel called the operation against Iran "Roaring Lion," while the US called it "Epic Fury."
US President Donald Trump said that the goal of the operation against Iran is "to destroy Iran’s missile industry and fleet" and "to ensure that Iran is unable to destabilize the world."
Trump accused Iran of "financing and training" militants in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and HAMAS in Palestine.
The Israel Defense Forces reported that they deployed more than 200 fighter jets to strike 500 targets in Iran.
On the evening of 28 February, a senior Israeli official told Reuters that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been killed that morning in an Israeli airstrike on Iran. His body had already been found.
Later, US President Donald Trump confirmed Ayatollah Khamenei’s death.