Israeli forces struck the building housing Iran’s Assembly of Experts in the holy city of Qom on Tuesday, hitting the 88-member clerical body at the moment it was convening to elect a successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli airstrikes on February 28.
An Israeli defense official said that the strike took place while votes were being counted. “We wanted to prevent them from picking a new supreme leader,” the official said.
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin confirmed the strike, saying the Israeli Air Force hit the building in Qom where senior clerics had gathered to choose Iran’s new supreme leader, according to the Times of Israel.
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Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency condemned the attack, calling the strikes an act of “American-Zionist criminals.” Iranian state media said the compound had been evacuated before the strike. No casualties have been officially confirmed, though the building was reported to have been severely damaged.
The Assembly of Experts holds sole constitutional authority to appoint Iran’s supreme leader. Under Iran’s constitution, the 88-member body — composed entirely of senior Shiite clerics vetted by the Guardian Council — must select a successor by simple majority vote. The process has been carried out only once before, in 1989, following the death of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Khamenei’s killing on February 28 triggered Article 111 of Iran’s constitution, which mandates the formation of a provisional leadership council pending a formal succession. The interim council consists of President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, and Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, a senior cleric from the Guardian Council.
Iran International reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps pressed the Assembly to elect Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, as the next supreme leader, with sources saying the IRGC sought to finalize the decision outside constitutionally prescribed procedures, given the ongoing airstrikes. Iran International cited sources saying convening a formal session of the Assembly was not feasible under active bombardment.
The strike on the Assembly of Experts marked the fourth day of Operation Epic Fury, the joint US-Israeli military campaign. According to reports, the campaign also killed dozens of senior Iranian military and intelligence officials alongside Khamenei. The IDF said it had dropped over 2,500 bombs on Iran and struck more than 600 targets as of Monday night.
Iran has vowed retaliation and launched missiles and drones at multiple countries in the region, including Israel, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
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