AKIPRESS.COM - Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has threatened to kill anyone who becomes Iran’s next supreme leader following the death of former leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, TASS reported.

"Any leader appointed by the Iranian terrorist regime to pursue the plan to destroy Israel, threaten the United States, the free world and countries in the region, and oppress the Iranian people will become an absolute target for elimination," the minister wrote on X.

According to Katz, Israel intends to eliminate the next Iranian supreme leader "regardless of his name or hiding place."

The relevant decisions have already been made, he noted. "[Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and I have instructed the Israeli Defense Forces to prepare and take all measures necessary to achieve this objective, integral to Operation Roaring Lion. We will continue to act with all our might alongside our American partners to crush the regime’s capabilities and create conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow and replace it," the minister said.

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. As a result of the strikes, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other senior figures in the leadership of the Islamic Republic were killed.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were also hit.