Senior clerics responsible for selecting Iran’s next supreme leader met Tuesday to deliberate on a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the slain leader’s son Mojtaba Khamenei emerged as the leading candidate, three Iranian officials familiar with the discussions told The New York Times.

The officials told The New York Times that the clerics, known as the Assembly of Experts, were considering announcing Mojtaba Khamenei as his father’s successor as soon as Wednesday morning.

Some members of the assembly expressed concern that publicly naming Mojtaba Khamenei could make him a target for the United States or Israel, the officials told The New York Times.

The Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of senior Shiite clerics tasked under Iran’s constitution with appointing the country’s supreme leader, held two virtual meetings Tuesday, the officials told The New York Times.

Israel earlier struck a building in Qom where the assembly had been scheduled to meet to select the next leader, but the structure was empty, according to the Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was cited by The New York Times.

Vali Nasr, an Iran and Shiite Islam expert at Johns Hopkins University, told The New York Times that selecting Mojtaba Khamenei would signal that the regime’s hard-line factions are consolidating power.

Nasr told The New York Times that Mojtaba Khamenei had long been considered a potential successor but had faded from prominence in recent years before re-emerging following his father’s death.

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, has largely operated behind the scenes inside the political and religious power structure built by his father, who Iranian authorities say was killed Saturday in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, according to The New York Times.

Officials familiar with the discussions told The New York Times that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been strongly pushing for Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment.

Mehdi Rahmati, an analyst in Tehran, told The New York Times that Mojtaba Khamenei is viewed by some insiders as the most capable figure to manage Iran’s security and military apparatus during a time of crisis.

Rahmati said Mojtaba Khamenei has already played a significant role coordinating Iran’s security institutions, according to The New York Times.

Rahmati also told The New York Times that installing Mojtaba Khamenei could trigger backlash among segments of the Iranian public.

He said supporters of the government may rally behind the leader’s son as the continuation of a figure they consider martyred, The New York Times reported.

Opponents of the government could also see the move as entrenching the regime, which rights groups say has killed at least 7,000 people in recent months, according to The New York Times.

Other candidates under consideration include cleric and jurist Alireza Arafi and Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Iran’s revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, The New York Times reported.

The New York Times reported that both Arafi and Seyyed Hassan Khomeini are viewed as relatively more moderate figures, with Seyyed Hassan Khomeini having ties to Iran’s sidelined reformist political faction.

Abdolreza Davari, a politician close to Mojtaba Khamenei, told The New York Times that if he becomes supreme leader he could evolve into a reform-minded figure similar to Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman.

Davari told The New York Times before the war that Mojtaba Khamenei could sideline hard-liners and reshape the leadership structure.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday in Washington that many individuals previously viewed as potential Iranian leaders had been killed since Saturday.

Trump said during the news conference that “pretty soon we’re not going to know anybody,” according to The New York Times.

The Assembly of Experts has selected a supreme leader only once before, choosing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, according to The New York Times.

Iranian authorities also said Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife, mother, and a son were killed alongside his father in the strikes Saturday, according to The New York Times.