New Delhi:
Israel announced today that it has begun ‘wide-scale’ strike on Tehran, Isfahan and southern Iran. At the same time, thousands have gathered in the central square of the Iranian capital to pledge allegiance to the Islamic Republic’s new leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
“The IDF has just begun a wide-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran, Isfahan, and southern Iran,” said the Israeli Defence forces (IDF) said in a statement.
As Israel announced its war plans, massive crowds in Tehran’s Enghelab Square were seen carrying portraits of Mojtaba Khamenei, who has succeeded his father Ayatollah Khamenei as Iran’s Supreme Leader, and Iranian flags.
Iran on Sunday night named the hardline Mojtaba as its new leader. With the Iranian regime facing air strikes from both the United States and Israel, the Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for choosing the Supreme Leader, announced the secretive, 56-year-old cleric as the Supreme Leader.
Mojtaba Khamenei is known to have close ties with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and weilds a lot of influence behind the scenes in Iranian politics despite never holding any political office.
The move came after more than a week of heavy bombardment by the United States and Israel. Iranian officials presented the appointment as a signal that the leadership does not intend to yield in what it describes as a fight for the country’s existence.
World markets fell sharply after the news. Brent crude oil rose to nearly $120 a barrel on Monday — about 65 per cent higher than when the current war began — before later falling back.
Israel said its forces struck command centres of the Revolutionary Guards and its volunteer Basij force in Isfahan, along with a rocket engine production facility and missile launch sites. Iran has not yet confirmed the strikes.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public since the war began. He had long been viewed as a possible successor to his father, even before an Israeli strike killed the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, died in the same strike.
Some political figures inside Iran have criticised the succession on hereditary grounds, drawing comparisons to the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Assembly of Experts nevertheless voted for continuity.
Mojtaba Khamenei is regarded as more hard-line than his father.
He will now control Iran’s armed forces and any decisions on the country’s nuclear programme. Iran’s main nuclear sites were heavily damaged by United States bombing during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June.
However, the country still holds stocks of highly enriched uranium that are only a technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Mojtaba Khamenei could decide to proceed with building a nuclear weapon, something his father never did.
Israel has already named him as a possible target. United States President Donald Trump has described him as “unacceptable” and dismissed him as a “lightweight”.
Both the Revolutionary Guards and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah issued statements supporting the new leader. Ali Larijani, a senior Iranian security official, told state television that the Assembly of Experts had shown courage by meeting during the ongoing air strikes. He said Mojtaba Khamenei had been trained by his father and was capable of managing the current situation.
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