Israel Strikes Qom Council to Block Iran’s Leadership Succession

An Israeli strike hit the building that houses Iran’s Council of Experts in the holy city of Qom as clerics worked to name a successor after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death, an Israeli defense official said.

The attack was intended to disrupt Tehran’s ability to quickly replace Khamenei and regain control after an earlier wave of strikes that decapitated Iran’s leadership over the weekend.

The Council of Experts is the sole body empowered to appoint a new supreme leader, and its 88-member clerical membership votes on candidates drawn from a shortlist prepared by a smaller secret committee.

Details and Impact

Former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was assassinated Saturday in the initial round of Israeli strikes, along with dozens of senior Iranian officials, prompting a chaotic scramble within the regime.

An Israeli defense official said the Qom strike occurred while votes were being counted.

It remains unclear how many council members were inside the building at the time or the full extent of the damage.

The unmistakable aim was to prevent Tehran’s ruling class from quietly installing a new figurehead and carrying on as before.

🚨 JUST IN: Footage released of Iran’s Islamic “Assembly of Experts” building in Tehran BLOWN UP by Israel, where they were trying to meet and choose a new Supreme Leader

Incredible timing.

Their Muslim “experts” are gone now. KEEP HITTING THEM HARD!pic.twitter.com/wY6uJEiTlr https://t.co/ed701v2m6a

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 3, 2026

“We wanted to prevent them from picking a new supreme leader,” the official said.

Broader Escalation

The strike signals a sharp escalation by targeting the political and clerical machinery that sustains Iran’s regime rather than only missile sites, nuclear-linked facilities, or military command posts.

For decades the Islamic Republic has survived by replacing leaders, crushing dissent, and projecting a divinely ordained permanence.

Now its supreme leader is dead, top commanders have been wiped out, and the clerical body tasked with selecting the next ruler has been struck directly.

Even without confirmed casualty figures from inside the council chamber, the message to Tehran is crushing: there will be no smooth transition, no clean reset and no easy path to restoring the old order.

Whether the council was destroyed outright or thrown into panic, Iran’s remaining power brokers are running out of places to hide.

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