TEHRAN, March 9 —Iran’s ruling clerics yesterday appointed their slain leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader, defying threats against him from the United States and Israel as they pummel the country.

Nine days after US-Israeli strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and plunged the Middle East into war, Shiite clerics convened to choose the third supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

An announcer on state television solemnly read a statement from the 88-member Assembly of Experts next to a picture of the 56-year-old new leader, who bears a striking resemblance to his father.

Mojtaba Khamenei “is appointed and introduced as the third leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the decisive vote of the respected representatives of the Assembly of Experts”, the statement said.

It said that the clerical body “did not hesitate for a minute” in choosing a new leader, despite “the brutal aggression of the criminal America and the evil Zionist regime”.

The war came weeks after authorities crushed nationwide protests, killing thousands. The younger Khamenei is considered a fellow hardliner who will pursue his father’s rejection of dissent.

US President Donald Trump had previously dismissed the younger Khamenei as a “lightweight”, and insisted again Sunday that he should have a say in appointing a new leader.

“If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long,” he told ABC News before the announcement was made.

Israel’s military had previously warned any successor that “we will not hesitate to target you”.

Oil price spikes 

As Iran retaliates against its its oil-rich Gulf Arab neighbours, which are key bases for US troops, benchmark oil prices soared beyond US$100.

Trump has sought to ease pressure on oil prices, a key political issue in the United States, including by encouraging India to buy oil from Russia—which the United States had for years tried to stop.

He dismissed Sunday’s war-related spike in oil prices as a “small price to pay” for removing the threat of Iran’s nuclear program.

Few expect major reforms under the younger Khamenei, a trained cleric close to the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the Islamic republic’s military.

The Guards quickly pledged their support for the new leader, who comes into the role with far less experience than his father, who had been president under the first supreme leader, revolutionary Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei.

The Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement that it is “ready for complete obedience and self-sacrifice in carrying out the divine commands” of the younger Khamenei.

Ali Larijani, the head of the Supreme National Security Council who had been seen as a key powerbroker under the slain Khamenei, saluted how the leader was “elected with a legal process” despite the threats of attack.

The Islamic republic had been founded on opposition to dynastic monarchies after the toppling of the pro-Western shah in 1979.

The late shah’s son Reza Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the United States and has offered himself as a transitional leader, had warned that any new supreme leader would lack legitimacy.

Air ‘unbreathable’ 

Israel struck five oil facilities in and around Tehran overnight early yesterday, killing at least four people and sparking blazes that left the skies filled with acrid smoke.

Tehran’s governor told the IRNA news agency that fuel distribution had been “temporarily interrupted” in the capital.

A dark haze hung over the city of 10 million people, blocking out the sun, and the smell of burning fuel lingered in the air.

Authorities warned the fumes could be toxic and urged citizens to stay indoors, but many windows were blown out by the force of the blasts.

“The blaze has been burning for more than 12 hours, the air has become unbreathable. I can’t even go out to do the daily shopping,” said one 35-year-old from Tehran.

“At first, I supported this war. After Khamenei’s death, I celebrated with my friends: we drank wine and we danced.

“But since yesterday... people say there’s not even any gasoline left at the gas stations,” she said, in a text message to contacts in Europe.

Trump has sent mixed messages on the war aims. He has demanded “unconditional surrender” but also said that the war is all but won, and has also refused to rule out sending US ground troops—potentially a major escalation.

The US military announced that a service member had died after being wounded in Saudi Arabia, the seventh American combat death in the war.

The Revolutionary Guards warned that they had enough supplies to continue their drone and missile war over the Middle East for up to six months. — AFP