Iran Israel War: Who will lead Iran if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is assassinated? Report says...

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him in case he is assassinated amid an intensifying conflict with Israel, according to a report by The New York Times (NYT). Living inside a deep bunker, the 86-year-old leader has also instructed officials to shut down all electronic communication around him to make it harder to find him, the newspaper reported as it quoted three Iranian officials familiar with the happenings.

Khamenei's son not included
The NYT report said that Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, also a cleric and close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who was earlier rumoured to be a frontrunner, is not among the three candidates. The Iranian leader has also begun appointing replacements for top military commanders who have been killed in Israeli strikes, the report added.

Khamenei faces death threats
On Friday, Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz remarked that Khamenei' "can no longer be allowed to exist." The minister's comment came after an Iranian missile hit a hospital in a town near Tel Aviv city. "These are war crimes of the most serious kind - and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes," he said in a social media post. Besides, United States President Donald Trump has also hinted that the Iranian leader could be killed in the near future. Trump has notably been weighing whether to join Israel in its war against Iran.

Iran Israel conflict continues
Last week, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, targeting its nuclear facilities and killing many of its top-ranking military officials and nuclear scientists. In retaliation, Iran launched a barrage of missile attacks at the Jewish-majority nation as the conflict continues to intensify. In the Islamic Republic, more than 400 people have been killed and hundreds others injured, while over two dozens have been killed and hundreds others wounded in Israel. But human rights groups say the death toll may be higher than officially reported.