Israel has vowed to target Iran’s next supreme leader as it escalated air strikes on Tehran and intensified attacks in Lebanon on the fifth day of a rapidly widening conflict that has drawn in the United States and deepened regional instability.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said any successor to Iran’s slain supreme leader would be considered a military target. His remarks followed reports that senior clerics are preparing to appoint Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ali Khamenei, as the country’s new leader.
“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 wrote on social media.
The conflict intensified after Israeli strikes in the holy city of Qom hit a building associated with the Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for selecting Iran’s supreme leader. Iranian officials have indicated that the succession decision may now be conducted online.
Khamenei, 86, was killed along with other senior figures in strikes on Saturday that marked the beginning of the war. A farewell ceremony is scheduled in Tehran, a factor analysts suggest may have influenced the timing of Israel’s latest wave of attacks on the capital.
Israel may have suffered its first significant military setback, with Iranian state media reporting that an Israeli F-35 fighter jet was shot down over Tehran. The claim has not been independently verified.
The United States says it has struck nearly 2,000 Iranian targets as part of a campaign involving about 50,000 personnel. US officials say the objective is to degrade Iran’s missile and drone capabilities and restore stability to a region facing shipping disruptions, rising oil prices and widespread flight cancellations.
Civilian casualties continue to mount. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates that at least 1,000 civilians in Iran have been killed since Saturday. In southern Iran, mourners gathered for students killed in a strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab. The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the death toll at the school had risen to 108 students, though access to the site remains restricted.
US President Donald Trump expressed confidence in the campaign’s success but gave mixed signals about its objectives, suggesting one outcome could be leadership change in Tehran.
“I guess the worst case would be we do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “So we’d like to see somebody in there that’s going to bring it back for the people.”
Trump also criticised UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer after Britain declined to allow US forces to use the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean and RAF Fairford in England. Starmer told parliament he could not support military action without a “viable, thought-through plan”.
Tensions widened further after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described the intervention as unjustified and in breach of international law, prompting Trump to threaten trade consequences. French President Emmanuel Macron also said the strikes were outside international law, even as he authorised French forces to counter Iranian missile and drone threats. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz adopted a more cautious tone, warning of risks while suggesting political change in Iran could benefit its people.
In Lebanon, the Health Ministry said Israeli strikes had killed at least 50 people and wounded 335 since the latest escalation began.
Inside Israel, 10 civilians have been killed, including nine people in an Iranian missile strike on a synagogue in Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem on March 1. The US has confirmed six casualties among its forces.
The conflict has prompted renewed diplomatic efforts. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, called for an immediate halt to hostilities, warning of the “multiplication of new fronts” across the Middle East and rising humanitarian consequences.
The justification for the war remains contested. While Washington and Israel argue that Iran’s nuclear programme posed an imminent threat, Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told CNN that Iran was not days or weeks away from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
US Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of Central Command, said Iran’s air defences had been severely degraded and that 17 naval vessels had been sunk, leaving no operational ships on key waterways. More than 2,000 targets had been struck, he said.
“My overall operational assessment is that we are ahead of our game plan,” Cooper said in a video briefing. “In simple terms, we’re focused on shooting things that can shoot us.”
However, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it had full control of the Strait of Hormuz and could block vessels transiting the strategic waterway, exacerbating supply shortages and pushing up oil prices. Trump responded that the US Navy could escort tankers through the strait.
Airlines have cancelled more than 20,000 flights as governments organise emergency evacuations for their citizens, underscoring the far-reaching impact of a conflict that continues to expand across the region.
