Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened on Wednesday to assassinate any Iranian leader picked to succeed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on Tehran. This comes as Mojtaba Khamenei (pictured), the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been named the favourite to be appointed Iran’s new Supreme Leader. In a post on X, Katz said: ‘Any leader selected by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan for Israel’s destruction, threatening the United States, the free world and countries in the region, and suppressing the Iranian people, will be a certain target for assassination, no matter his name or where he hides.’

Mojtaba, 56, Ali Khamenei’s second oldest son, has strong links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and was chosen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts ‘under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards’, according to Iranian opposition outlet Iran International. Mojtaba is not a high-ranking cleric, has never held office and does not have an official role in the regime. But he served in the Iranian armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war and is believed to wield considerable influence behind the scenes. He has been touted as a possible successor to his father for years. However, he was not included in a list of three senior clerics Ali Khamenei reportedly identified last year. And his father is said to have indicated opposition to his candidacy because it would resemble the hereditary rule enacted by the US-backed Shah monarchy before it was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Read more: Israel declares all future Iranian leaders as targets to assassinate