| |
Khamenei's Son to Succeed Him in Iran 03/09 06:16
Iran named the hard-line Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his late
father as supreme leader on Monday, signaling no letup in the war launched by
the United States and Israel. Oil prices surged as Iran attacked regional
energy infrastructure and the U.S. and Israel bombed targets across Iran.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iran named the hard-line Ayatollah
Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his late father as supreme leader on Monday,
signaling no letup in the war launched by the United States and Israel. Oil
prices surged as Iran attacked regional energy infrastructure and the U.S. and
Israel bombed targets across Iran.
With Iran's theocracy under assault for more than a week, the country's
Assembly of Experts chose the secretive, 56-year-old cleric with close ties to
the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as the new supreme leader. The Guard has
been firing missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states since Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, who had ruled Iran for 37 years, was killed during the war's
opening salvo.
The appointment marked a new sign of defiance by Iran's embattled leadership
after more than a week of heavy U.S. and Israeli bombardment, suggesting that
Tehran is not close to giving up on what it considers a fight for the country's
existence.
World markets plummeted following the news, and Brent crude oil, the
international standard, surged to nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, about 65%
higher than when the war started, before retreating.
Iran's attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have also all but stopped tankers
from using the key shipping lane through which a fifth of the world's oil is
carried. Fire broke out at an oil facility that Iran attacked in the United
Arab Emirates, Bahrain's only oil refinery was apparently also hit, and Saudi
Arabia said it had intercepted several drones attacking its Shaybah oil field.
In Israel, sirens blared multiple times on Monday as Iran's drones and
missiles were unrelenting. A man was killed in central Israel in a missile
strike, the first such death in Israel in a week, and a woman was wounded.
Israel said it struck the Iranian city of Isfahan, hitting command centers
for the Revolutionary Guard and its volunteer Basij force, as well as a rocket
engine production facility and missile launch sites. There was no immediate
confirmation from Iran.
New Iranian leader seen as even more hard-line than his father
The younger Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the war started,
was long considered a potential successor -- even before the Israeli strike
killed his father. His wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, was killed in the same Israeli
strike that killed the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Political figures within Iran have criticized handing over the supreme
leader's title based on heredity, comparing it to the monarchy overthrown in
the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But top clerics in the Assembly of Experts
apparently voted for continuity.
Khamenei, who is seen as even more hard-line than his late father, will now
be in charge of Iran's armed forces and any decision about Tehran's nuclear
program.
While Iran's key nuclear sites are in tatters after the U.S. bombed them
during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, it still has highly enriched uranium
that's a technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Khamenei could choose
to do what his father never did -- build a nuclear bomb.
Israel has already described him as a potential target, while U.S. President
Donald Trump has called him "unacceptable" and dismissed him as a "lightweight."
Both the Revolutionary Guard and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group
Hezbollah issued statements in support of Khamenei.
Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani, speaking to Iranian state
television, praised the Assembly of Experts for "courageously" convening even
as airstrikes continued in Tehran. He said the younger Khamenei had been
trained by his father and "can handle this situation."
Regional anger grows as energy infrastructure is hit and oil prices spike
Saudi Arabia lashed out at Iran following a thwarted drone attack on its
massive Shaybah oil field, saying Tehran would be the "biggest loser" if it
continues to attack Arab states.
In the UAE, authorities said two people were wounded by shrapnel from the
interception of Iranian missiles over the capital, Abu Dhabi.
Iran also attacked Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, where it hit a residential
area, wounding 32 people, including several children, according to authorities.
Another attack appeared to have started a fire at Bahrain's only oil refinery,
sending thick plumes of smoke into the air.
Bahrain has also accused Iran of damaging one of its desalination plants,
though its electricity and water authority said supplies remained online.
Desalination plants supply water to millions of residents in the region,
raising new fears of catastrophic risks in parched desert nations.
On Monday, Bahrain's state oil company declared force majeure for its oil
shipments, the state-run Bahrain News Agency reported, a legal maneuver
releasing a company of its contractual obligations because of extraordinary
circumstances. It insisted that local demand could still be met.
In Iraq, air defenses downed a drone as it attacked a U.S. military compound
inside the Baghdad International Airport, a security source told The Associated
Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
speak to the press. No injuries or damage were reported. It was not immediately
clear who was behind the attack, but Iran-backed militias have previously
targeted the base.
Elsewhere, the U.S. military said a service member died of injuries from an
Iranian attack on troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1. Seven U.S. soldiers have
now been killed.
The U.S. State Department early Monday ordered nonessential personnel and
families of all staff to leave Saudi Arabia following the escalation in attacks.
Eight other U.S. diplomatic missions have ordered all but key staff to
leave: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates
and the consulates in Karachi, Pakistan, and Adana, Turkey.
Israel launches new strikes on Lebanon
Smoke billowed over Beirut after Israel carried out airstrikes on its
southern suburbs Monday.
Ahead of the strikes, the Israeli army said it would operate against targets
associated with the Hezbollah-linked financial institution al-Qard Al-Hasan --
which Israel said finances the militant group -- and repeated its warning to
residents of Beirut's southern suburbs to flee.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon
and 11 in Israel, according to officials. Another person died in Israel of an
asthma attack on her way to a shelter. Israel reported its first soldier deaths
on Sunday, saying two were killed in southern Lebanon, where it is fighting
Hezbollah.
|
|
