After Qom strike, Israeli envoy says Iranian council selecting new leader likely ‘won’t be available’ to meet again

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter says there is a “very good chance” that Iran’s 88-member clerical body responsible for appointing the country’s next supreme leader won’t be able to meet further after Israel struck Iran’s Assembly of Experts building in Qom earlier today.

While stressing that he was not yet sure of the results of the strike, Leiter tells CNN in an interview that “there’s a very good chance that the electors will not be readily available for any further meetings.”

I told @wolfblitzer and @PamelaBrownCNN on @cnn: We struck in an area of a meeting to appoint a new supreme leader, and there's a very good chance that the electors won't be readily available for any further meetings.@POTUS has made a very important decision in taking the lead… pic.twitter.com/Z3nxznPLZO

— Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) March 3, 2026

“We struck in an area where the electors were meeting to appoint a new supreme leader, somebody who would be in charge of spreading death and mayhem both in Iran and outside of Iran,” he says.

Leiter’s remarks come as Channel 12 reports that the clerical body itself was not present at the building when the strike took place, and that it hit a limited group of people in the building who were responsible for counting the vote.