A member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts has said the body will convene within 24 hours to begin the process of selecting the country’s next supreme leader following the death of Ali Khamenei.
Hossein Mozafari, one of the 88 members of the clerical body, disclosed this in remarks reported by Iranian media on Saturday.
According to Mozafari, the Assembly of Experts will soon meet to deliberate on the leadership succession.
“With divine assistance, this session will occur within the next twenty-four hours,” Mozafari said, as quoted by the Fars news agency.
The announcement comes about a week after Khamenei was killed during a joint military attack carried out by the United States and Israel.
Mozafari urged citizens to remain calm and avoid spreading unverified claims regarding the succession process.
He said Iranians should “refrain from any speculation and the spreading of rumours regarding this matter” until the assembly formally convenes.
Meanwhile, the United States has condemned recent Iranian drone strikes near the border region of Azerbaijan, describing them as an escalation of aggression during the ongoing Middle East conflict.
The United States Department of State said the strikes targeted infrastructure in Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhchivan.
According to the department, the attack struck an airport and a school and injured civilians.
“These strikes are a flagrant violation of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and a needless escalation of Iran’s aggression,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
He added that attacks on American allies in the region “are unacceptable and will be met with resolute US support for those partners.”
In a related development, explosions were heard late Saturday in Baghdad and Erbil, according to journalists from AFP.
The cause of the blasts in Baghdad was not immediately known, though a witness near the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the US embassy, reported seeing air defence systems activated.
Several drones have reportedly been intercepted near Baghdad airport since the conflict in the Middle East intensified.
In Erbil, an AFP journalist said the sound of a drone was followed by at least three loud explosions.
The city hosts a major United States consulate complex and has repeatedly intercepted drones since the outbreak of the war.
