Iran’s new supreme leader has signed a message on a missile aimed at Israel, as he launched his first strikes just hours after his appointment.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was appointed the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Sunday.
In one of his first moves in power, a picture of a projectile which featured the words “At your service, Sayyid Mojtaba”, was posted on the state broadcaster IRIB’s Telegram channel.
Mojtaba’s appointment follows the death of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike more than a week ago, on 28 February.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the political council, Assembly of Experts, have since pledged allegiance to the new leader over the weekend.
The move is in direct defiance of US president Donald Trump who insisted that he should have been consulted on the next leader of the embattled country.
Mr Trump said Iran’s new leader “is not going to last long” if he does not approve of the choice and has previously declared Motjaba as an “unacceptable” candidate.
Ahead of the announcement, Israel also threatened to target whoever was chosen. Israel has recently escalated its assaults on Iran, targeting its oil and energy infrastructure, covering the capital with thick black smoke.
Reports are also emerging of black “acid rain” falling over parts of Iran in the hours after US-Israeli airstrikes on oil depots over the weekend. Iran’s Red Crescent Society warned the oil-contaminated rainfall following the strikes could be “highly dangerous and acidic” as it settles on buildings and cars and causes headaches and breathing difficulties for residents.
Iran has also threatened retaliatory attacks on oil facilities after vowing not to attack its Gulf partners.
The US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s UN ambassador.
The US military said a seventh American has died from wounds sustained during Iran’s initial counter-attack a week ago. This took place a day after Mr Trump presided over the return to the United States of the remains of the six others killed.
Meanwhile, oil and gas prices have surged above $100 a barrel as the ongoing war escalates.
Under Iran’s complex, theocratic system, the supreme leader is the ultimate authority who governs over foreign policy, controls the nation’s nuclear programme, as well as guides the elected president and parliament.
Mojtaba has been highly criticised by Iranian protesters during unrest over the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, who was killed in police custody in 2022, after being arrested for allegedly breaching the Islamic Republic’s strict dress codes.
He is seen as having leverage over Iran’s security apparatus, which has repressed several waves of protests in recent years.
