Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has purportedly chosen three clerics as potential successors while hiding in a bunker amid Israel's threats of assassination during the continuing crisis, reports The New York Times.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has begun selecting successors for senior military leaders killed in Israeli strikes, according to The New York Times, which cited three Iranian sources familiar with the developments.
The official said that Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, is not shortlisted as his successor, which contradicts the previous report that claimed that he was being groomed for that position.
According to The New York Times report, Khamenei, 86, is aware of the possibility that Israel or the United States might attempt to assassinate him -- an act he would view as martyrdom, according to Iranian officials.
Khamenei has taken the rare step of directing the Assembly of Experts – the clerical body tasked with selecting Iran's next supreme leader – to act swiftly and choose a successor from the three names he has personally put forward.
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