Israel believes Mojtaba Khamenei still alive, wounded, after targeted in strikes earlier this week

Israeli security officials believe that Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a front-runner to succeed him, is still alive after being targeted in an airstrike this past week.

The Israeli assessment is that Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded in the strike.

Mojtaba is the front-runner to succeed his father as the Islamic Republic’s next head, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. The Times report came after the opposition outlet Iran International claimed that Mojtaba Khamenei, his father’s second-eldest son, had already been chosen by the Assembly of Experts as his father’s successor, citing “informed sources.”

The NYT report said that the senior clerics tasked with choosing the next supreme leader could announce their choice as early as the next day. Quoting Iranian officials familiar with the deliberations, however, the report said the clerics have some reservations about declaring Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader, fearing it could increase the likelihood he will be targeted by the US and Israel.

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin, asked tonight about the process of appointing a new Iranian leader, noted that the IDF on Tuesday targeted the building in Qom of the 88-strong Assembly of Experts tasked with electing the new supreme leader, and would continue to target efforts to appoint what he described as Iran’s new terror chief.

Defrin said last week that the IDF was awaiting information on the results of the Qom strike. An Iranian opposition report said that the building was largely empty when the IDF announced hitting it.