JERUSALEM, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Israel threatened on Wednesday that whoever Iran chooses as its new Supreme Leader would be "a target for elimination."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that "any leader" appointed by the Iranian regime will be "an unequivocal target for elimination," adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he have instructed the Israel Defense Forces to "prepare and utilize all means to execute this mission."

Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was named to succeed him, according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency.

On Tuesday, Israel struck a building of Iran's Assembly of Experts, which elects the supreme leader. ■