Mojtaba Khamenei, the powerful son of Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is alive and favoured to emerge as his father's successor, two Iranian sources told Reuters Wednesday.As new explosions rang out in Tehran, plans were in doubt for a funeral for the elder Khamenei, 86, killed by Israeli forces on Saturday in the first assassination of a nation's top ruler by airstrike. His body had been scheduled to lie in state in a vast Tehran mosque from Wednesday evening but state media reported the farewell ceremony was postponed.The United States and Israel pressed on with their round-the-clock assaults on Iran on Wednesday in a campaign that the top U.S. commander said was "ahead of the game plan".A fall in global markets turned into a rout in Asia, including a record-breaking crash in Seoul, as some investors were unconvinced by U.S. President Donald Trump's assurances he would quickly reopen the world's most important shipping corridor and release blockaded Middle East oil and gas.European markets later stabilised and turned higher after two days of sharp losses, on hopes that the war might end soon. Some traders said the improved sentiment followed a New York Times report that Iranian intelligence had reached out to the CIA early in the war about a path towards ending it.The report said officials in Washington were sceptical of an "off-ramp" for now, while Trump said on Tuesday that Iranians wanted talks but it was "too late".The two Iranian sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was not in Tehran during the strike that destroyed the leader's compound and also killed the elder Khamenei's wife, another son and a number of senior military and leadership figures.Iran said the Assembly of Experts that will select the new leader will announce its decision soon, only the second time it has done so since the Islamic Republic's founding in 1979.Assembly member Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told state TV the candidates had already been identified but did not name them.Israel said it would hunt down whoever was chosen."Every leader appointed by the Iranian regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people - will be an unequivocal target for elimination," Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. "It does not matter what his name is or the place where he hides."Other candidates for supreme leader include Hassan Khomeini, grandson of Islamic Republic's founder and a champion of the reformist faction sidelined in recent decades.But the clear favourite appears to be Mojtaba Khamenei, who amassed power under his father as a senior figure in the security forces and the vast business empire they control. Choosing him would send a signal that conservatives were still firmly in charge.Some Iranians have openly celebrated the death of the supreme leader, whose security forces killed thousands of anti-government demonstrators only weeks ago in the biggest domestic unrest since the era of the revolution.But Iranians angry with the government said there was unlikely to be much sign of protest while bombs are falling."We have nowhere to go to protect ourselves from strikes, how can we protest?" Farah, 45, said by phone from Tehran, adding that the security forces "are everywhere. They will kill us. I hate this regime, but first I have to think about the safety of my two children."The US says it has effectively sunk the entire Iranian navy. Sri Lanka said it rescued 32 people Wednesday from an Iranian warship that sank off its coast, with some bodies recovered at sea.Admiral Brad Cooper, the overall commander of the US campaign as head of the military's Central Command, said 50,000 troops, 200 jets and two aircraft carriers were engaged in "24/7 strikes into Iran from seabed to space and cyberspace," with more assets on the way.
