As Tehran mourns slain Khamenei, Israel threatens Iran’s next leaders

TEHRAN (MNTV) — As vast crowds of mourners filled the streets of Tehran on Monday in a mass procession for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike in February, Israel’s defense minister chose the moment to threaten whoever might one day succeed him.

Israel Katz warned that any future Iranian leader who revives efforts to attack Israel would meet the same end.

Any such figure “who tries to promote plans to destroy Israel again will also be thwarted,” he said in remarks carried by the Jerusalem Post — an unmistakable reference to the strike that killed Khamenei on Feb. 28.

Katz claimed the joint US-Israeli assault had removed what he called an immediate threat to Israel’s survival and severely damaged Iran’s strategic capabilities. Israel, he added, is ready to defend itself alone, at any time and against any threat.

The warning landed at a jarring moment.

Katz spoke as Iranians mourned their slain leader, and only weeks after Tehran and Washington signed a June 17 memorandum of understanding intended to end their military confrontation and open a path to a lasting peace.

His words raised immediate questions about how durable that understanding can be while senior Israeli officials openly hold out the prospect of further strikes.

The killing of a sitting head of state in the February attack marked a dramatic escalation in the long conflict between Israel and Iran.

Katz’s latest remarks signal that Israel intends to keep the threat of force on the table even as the diplomatic track proceeds — and that the peace now being negotiated rests on notably unsteady ground.