‘We Will Not Hesitate to Target You…’: Israel Threatens Iran’s Leadership Transition

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have issued a stern warning that they will persist in targeting any potential successor to Iran's next supreme leader, even as the conflict between the United States and Iran widened with a naval strike in the Indian Ocean.

"We want to tell you that the hand of the State of Israel will continue to pursue every successor and every person who seeks to appoint a successor," a social media post of the Israeli military written in Farsi was cited by The Jerusalem Post on Sunday morning.

The IDF further cautioned individuals involved in the transition process, stating that anyone attending meetings to choose a new leader would be considered a legitimate target.

The warning comes as the Assembly of Experts in Iran has reportedly reached a majority consensus regarding the successor to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to the Tehran-based Mehr News Agency (MNA).

How Is Sri Lanka Handling the Crew of the Stranded Iranian Ship Booshehr?

Meanwhile, the United States is pressing Sri Lanka not to repatriate the survivors from an Iranian warship it sank this week or the crew of a second Iranian ship that is in Sri Lankan custody, according to a report by Reuters.

A U.S. submarine sank the frigate Dena in the Indian Ocean about 19 nautical miles off Sri Lanka's southern port city of Galle on Wednesday, killing dozens of sailors and dramatically widening Washington's pursuit of the Iranian navy.

The torpedoing of the Dena, which U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described as "quiet death", was the first such action by the United States since World War Two and a clear sign of the Iran conflict's widening geographic scope.

The Dena had taken part in naval exercises organized by India in the Bay of Bengal last month and was returning to Iran when it was struck by a U.S. torpedo.

On Thursday, Sri Lanka began offloading 208 crew members from a second Iranian ship, the naval auxiliary vessel Booshehr, which had found itself stranded in Sri Lanka's exclusive economic zone but outside its maritime boundary.

Sri Lankan authorities said on Friday they were escorting the Booshehr to a harbor on the eastern coast and moving most of its crew to a navy camp near Colombo.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his South Asian island nation had a "humanitarian responsibility" to take in the crew.

(With inputs from ANI)