Good morning, everyone. I'm Kate Baldwin. It's Monday, March 9th. Here are the five things you need to know to start your day.

Number one, the new Supreme Leader. It has been one of the many major questions since the war with Iran started.

Who would lead the country now? Well, after a new wave of strikes this weekend, streets lined by fire in Tehran, Iranian state media say

Mushdaba Hamenei will be the next Supreme Leader.

The 56-year-old is now set to succeed his father who was killed in the initial round of U.S. Israeli strikes at the start of this war.

Video from Iran's state media shows people celebrating the announcement in the streets.

He was selected by the country's 88 member assembly of experts, as it's known, a choice that

President Trump had called unacceptable even before it was announced.

The president told ABC News this weekend that he must personally approve of any new leader, saying, quote,

if he doesn't get approval from us, he's not going to last long.

Moshaba Hamenei is a secretive figure in Iran.

His selection is seen as a sign of continuity for Iran's hard line.

He has close ties to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.

His appointment marks only the second transfer of power

in the Supreme Leader's office since the 1979 revolution.

Number two, the war.

A new wave of Israeli strikes hit targets in Iran and Beirut

and Iranian missiles triggered sirens across Israel. A senior Iranian official told

Sina that the war has entered a new phase after Israel's attacks on oil and fuel depots

in the oil rich region. As a result, oil futures and gas prices have skyrocketed. The price

of oil is now surging past $100 a barrel for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

And U.S. oil posted the biggest weekly gain on record.

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