JERUSALEM — Israel's defense minister issued a direct public threat on Wednesday warning that whoever Iran selects as its next supreme leader will be killed, one day after Israeli aircraft struck the Assembly of Experts building in Qom while the 88-member clerical body was reportedly convened to count votes on Khamenei's successor.

Katz Issues Public Elimination Warning on X

Defense Minister Israel Katz published the statement on X on Wednesday morning, writing that any person appointed to lead the Islamic Republic going forward "will be a target for elimination." The full text of the post, which was widely shared and circulated internationally within hours, read: "Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people, will be a target for elimination." Katz added that Israel would "continue to act with full force, together with our American partners, to dismantle the regime's capabilities and create the conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow and replace it."

The public nature of the threat is strategically significant. By naming the succession process itself as a legitimate military objective, the Israeli government is extending its stated targeting doctrine beyond command infrastructure and weapons systems to encompass Iran's constitutional governance mechanisms. That posture places every viable candidate for the supreme leadership position under an explicit threat of assassination before the post is formally filled, a step with no direct modern precedent in Israeli military doctrine. The statement also serves as a psychological operation aimed at any senior cleric weighing whether to accept nomination or allow their name to be put forward.

Qom Strike Targeted Assembly During Vote Count

Israeli aircraft struck the building housing the Assembly of Experts in the city of Qom on Tuesday, with an Israeli defense official confirming the timing was deliberate: the strike occurred while votes were being counted. The official stated plainly that the objective was to prevent the body from completing its selection of a new supreme leader. The Assembly of Experts holds sole constitutional authority under the Islamic Republic's governing framework to appoint and supervise the supreme leader, and its 88 members, all senior clerics, represent the only mechanism by which a successor to Khamenei can gain legitimate domestic standing within the regime. It was not confirmed how many of the 88 members were present at the time of the strike. Iranian state-linked media disputed that a formal succession vote was taking place when the building was hit, while Israeli reports citing unnamed officials stated that the council secretary, officials responsible for tallying votes, and the official ballot box used for the selection process were all destroyed.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency denied any active session was underway at the moment of impact, a contradiction that underlines the broader information environment surrounding the succession process, in which neither party to the conflict has a strong incentive to make accurate real-time disclosures. What is confirmed independently is the physical strike on the Qom building, geolocated by open-source analysts to coordinates 34.62534, 50.87639, and acknowledged by both IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin and Iranian state media within hours. A previous building formerly used by the Iranian parliament was also reportedly struck on Monday, widening the pattern of targeting institutional infrastructure associated with state authority and governance continuity.

Iran's Interim Council Meets Under Pressure as Succession Stalls

Iran's three-member interim leadership council, comprising President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, and senior cleric Alireza Arafi, met for the third time since Khamenei's death on Tuesday. The council's existence and composition were announced by Tehran as a temporary governance mechanism while the Assembly of Experts completes its selection work. The meetings have reportedly taken place at undisclosed or improvised locations, with social media analysis suggesting at least one session occurred inside a hospital ward in Tehran, reflecting how far leadership has been forced underground by ongoing strike activity.

The intersection of the public assassination threat, the Qom strike, and the underground movements of the interim council creates a succession environment of extreme compression and risk. Under Iran's constitution, the Assembly of Experts must complete its process for the new supreme leader to hold any legitimate authority over the IRGC, the judiciary, and the state broadcasting apparatus. With the assembly's building destroyed, its members dispersed and operating in secret, and its next designated leader already named a target for elimination, Tehran now faces the possibility of a prolonged interregnum in which the regime's chain of command remains formally headless. That vacuum at the apex of the Iranian state simultaneously complicates strategic decision-making for Tehran's military commanders and creates uncertainty for regional actors, adversaries, and partners alike about who in Iran holds ultimate sanctioning authority over escalation decisions.

For full background, see prior coverage at:

Israeli Strikes Hit Central Tehran Neighbourhood Housing Police Headquarters and State TV as Iran Confirms Khamenei’s Death and Declares 40 Days of Mourning

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NENC NowNick Ravenshade

Written by Nick Ravenshade for NENC Media Group, original article and analysis.