On March 3, 2026, the Israeli Air Force conducted an airstrike on a building in the holy city of Qom that housed Iran’s Council of Experts, the clerical body responsible for selecting the next supreme leader.
An Israeli defense official said the strike occurred while members of the council were reportedly counting votes on a successor to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in earlier strikes.
The Council of Experts consists of 88 clerics empowered under Iran’s constitution to appoint the supreme leader. It was unclear how many council members were present at the time of the airstrike.
Iranian media and official sources reported that the building was severely damaged; some local reports indicated that not all council members were present inside at the time of the strike. The extent of casualties among clerics and other individuals at the site remained unverified.
The strike marked a major escalation in the ongoing Israel–Iran conflict following earlier air and missile attacks between the two countries and drew widespread international attention.
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