Iran’s interim leadership council meets to discuss successor to Khamenei and military measures

Iran’s state news agency (IRNA) has reported that the fourth meeting of the interim leadership council was held under the chairmanship of President Masoud Pezeshkian to choose a new supreme leader.

The agency said: “The fourth meeting of the interim leadership council was held under the chairmanship of Masoud Pezeshkian, and the required arrangements have been made for the Assembly of Experts to convene to select a new leader.”

It added that council’s members had also taken decisions aimed at strengthening the capabilities of the armed forces.

Earlier, Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts, said the new supreme leader “will be chosen at the earliest opportunity”.

REAde: Iran ‘confident’ it can counter potential US ground invasion, says top diplomat

Khatami added that Iran was “close to selecting the leader”, stressing that the process must take place within the legal framework. Under the constitution, the 88-member Assembly of Experts is responsible for appointing a new leader of the Islamic Republic.

He warned that “the enemy’s second objective is to target the Assembly of Experts.”

Meanwhile, President Masoud Pezeshkian told a cabinet meeting that good neighbourly relations and respect for the rights and sovereignty of neighbouring states remained a strategic policy of the Islamic Republic.

“We have made every effort to avoid war with the help of our neighbours and through diplomatic channels,” he said. “But the American-Zionist military attack left us with no choice but to defend ourselves.”

READ: Russia says Iran has not requested any assistance