"Any leader appointed by the Iranian regime to continue its plan to destroy Israel, threaten the US and the free world, and regional countries, while suppressing the Iranian people, will be a target that must be eliminated. It does not matter what their name is or where they hide", Israeli defense minister Israel Katz stated.

The statement came as the Council of Experts, a body comprising 88 clerics, was meeting online to elect a successor to Ali Khamenei after the supreme leader was assassinated in a US and Israeli strike on 28/2.

It is not yet clear when the council will announce the results. The chosen individual must receive at least two-thirds of the votes from the council's members.

"We will continue to act with full force, alongside our US partners, to weaken Iran's capabilities and create conditions for the Iranian people to establish a new government", Katz said.

Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, at a press conference in Athens, Greece on 20/1. *Photo: AFP*

Iran will hold a three-day state funeral for Khamenei, starting on 4/3. "From 22h (1h30 on 5/3 Hanoi time), mourners can pay their final respects to the nation's martyred leader by visiting the Imam Khomenei Mosque in Tehran", Iranian media reported.

Khamenei, 86 years old, will be buried in his hometown of Mashhad, northeastern Iran.

Israeli media reported that Mojtaba Khamenei, 56 years old, Khamenei's second son, has been chosen to succeed his father. However, Iranian state media did not confirm this information.

Mojtaba holds significant influence and strong ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij volunteer militia. However, a "father-to-son" transfer of power is not supported by Shia Muslim clerics in Iran. Another obstacle is that Mojtaba is not a high-ranking cleric and has never held a government role.

During a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on 3/3, US President Donald Trump stated that two waves of attacks by his country and Israel had killed those he considered candidates to become Iran's new leaders. Trump added that there had been a new strike targeting the meeting to elect leaders in the country.

"Most of the people we had in mind are dead", the US President said. "There was another group, but according to reports, they might also have been killed".

Meanwhile, Iranian media reported that the Council of Experts building in Qoms was attacked by the US and Israel, noting that the body no longer meets there.