Tel Aviv: Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday declared that whoever Iran selects to replace Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on Tehran last week — will face assassination, intensifying an already volatile conflict gripping West Asia.
Khamenei, 86, was killed on February 28 when US and Israeli forces launched strikes on key leadership and military sites in Tehran, including the supreme leader’s residence.
“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,” Katz posted on X.
As fighting enters day five, Hezbollah rocket fire from Lebanon and fresh Israeli reprisals have widened the front. Lebanese media reports said a residential building was hit. Sirens wailed in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, while Qatar said Iran fired two ballistic missiles, one impacting Al Udeid Air Base without casualties.
With global energy prices on the rise, President Donald Trump said the US Navy is ready to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the key chokepoint into the Gulf that Iran has threatened to seal off.
