TEHRAN: Iran was preparing to reveal its new supreme leader on Sunday, after US-Israeli air strikes destroyed fuel dumps and triggered fires that choked much of Tehran in a thick blanket of smoke.
The clerical body tasked with choosing a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – killed just over a week ago in the strikes that triggered the war in the Middle East – has reached a decision, but not yet named the new leader.
“The vote to appoint the leader has taken place and the leader has been chosen,” said Ahmad Alamolhoda, a member of the Assembly of Experts, as quoted by Iran’s Mehr news agency.
Alamolhoda said the secretariat of the body would announce the name later. Other assembly members confirmed a decision was made, with one suggesting the son of the late leader would take the post.
Israel, meanwhile, issued a stark warning that its forces would not hesitate to target the new chief and members of the Assembly of Experts that met to confirm him.
Its reach was underlined by two new operations overnight – strikes against fuel dumps in and around Tehran, and an attack on a hotel in the heart of Lebanon’s capital Beirut that targeted suspected Iranian commanders.
READ MORE: Majority consensus reached on Iran’s next supreme leader, Mehr news reports
As the war extended into its ninth day, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had enough supplies to continue their aerial drone and missile war over the Middle East for up to six months.
Advanced missiles
US President Donald Trump again refused to rule out sending American ground troops into Iran, but continued to insist that the war was all but won despite the ongoing Iranian missile and drone strikes.
Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used only first- and second-generation missiles, but would use “advanced and less-used long-range missiles” in the coming days.
Saudi Arabia intercepted a wave of drones headed for targets including the diplomatic quarter in its capital Riyadh, Kuwait said an attack hit fuel tanks at its international airport and Bahrain reported a water desalination plant had been damaged.
Warplanes hit five oil facilities in overnight strikes in and around the Iranian capital, killing four people, the CEO of the national oil products distribution firm told state television.
READ MORE: Iran postpones state funeral for Khamenei: state TV
Tehran’s governor told the IRNA news agency that fuel distribution had been “temporarily interrupted” in the capital while repairs were carried out.
A dark haze hung over the city as morning broke and a smell of burning lingered in the air.
The Israeli army confirmed that its air force had struck “fuel storage facilities in Tehran” to prevent their use by the Iranian military.
Tehran has vowed to go after US assets in the region, and Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait all reported new attacks on Sunday.
Inside Iran, damage to infrastructure and residential areas is mounting as its people report growing anxiety and a heavy security presence.
“I don’t think anyone who hasn’t experienced war would understand it,” a 26-year-old teacher told AFP on condition of anonymity, describing the fear of living under bombardment.
Iran’s health ministry said Sunday that at least 1,200 civilians had been killed and around 10,000 wounded – figures AFP could not independently verify.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 294 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes over the past week, prompting Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to warn of a looming “humanitarian disaster”.
Trump, meanwhile, attended the return of the bodies of six American service members killed in a drone strike on a US base in Kuwait last Sunday.
No clear way out
Analysts warn there is still no clear path to ending a conflict that US and Israeli officials say could last a month or longer.
Trump has suggested Iran’s economy could be rebuilt if a leader “acceptable” to Washington replaces the late supreme leader, which Tehran has rejected.
China and Russia have largely stayed on the sidelines despite close ties with Tehran.
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said on Sunday that the war in the Middle East should “never have happened”, telling a press conference in Beijing that “a strong fist does not mean strong reason. The world cannot return to the law of the jungle.”
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