Shafaq News- Tehran (Updated at 18:08)

Israeli warplans struck a building linked to Iran’s leadership council in the city of Qom during a meeting in Tehran to select a new Supreme Leader.

Tasnim reported that the strikes hit a site described as associated with Iran’s top leadership structures in Qom, a key religious and political center south of Tehran. There was no immediate official confirmation from Iranian authorities on casualties or the extent of the damage.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Israel targeted 88 members of Iran’s Assembly of Experts in Tehran during a meeting to choose a successor to Khamenei. However, the semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that the building of the Assembly of Experts was empty at the time it was targeted and that no injuries occurred.

Axios quoted an Israeli official as saying that the strike occurred while votes were being counted inside the building, but it remains unclear how many of the Assembly of Experts’ 88 members were present at the time or the extent of the damage caused by the attack.

Under Article 111 of Iran’s constitution, a temporary leadership arrangement is activated when the position of the supreme leader becomes vacant. The current interim Leadership Council, formed after the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, consists of President Masoud Pezeshkian, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, and Guardian Council member Ayatollah Alireza Arafi. The three-member body assumes the duties of the supreme leader until the Assembly of Experts selects a successor.

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