Iran’s clerical regime now faces the prospect of finding a successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who was killed in a joint US-Israeli attack.
The veteran leader, who has ruled with an iron fist for nearly four decades, has no officially declared successor. Instead, a select body of 88 senior clergy known as the Assembly of Experts will choose the next leader.
Under the constitution, when the supreme leader steps down, his powers are temporarily transferred to a council made up of the president, the attorney general, and senior clergy from the Guardian Council until the Assembly of Experts elects a new leader.
On Sunday, Iran formed an interim leadership council, naming Alireza Alafi, 67, President Masoud Pezeshikian, and Attorney General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei as members.
Choosing a new leader has only been done by a council of experts once since the Islamic Republic was founded in 1979, when Khamenei was hastily selected following the death of Ruhollah Khomeini more than 30 years ago.
The ruling class wants to move quickly to demonstrate stability in the republic, and parliamentarians are expected to convene soon to discuss potential candidates before naming a successor to Khamenei.
But it is unclear whether they will even be able to jeopardize the rally, given that US President Donald Trump has vowed that the joint US-Israeli bombing campaign targeting his administration will continue.
Jurists must choose a successor who meets the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution. The new leader must be male and a cleric with political ability, moral authority, and loyalty to the Islamic Republic. Congress could interpret the rules to exclude reformist clergy who support greater social freedoms and engagement with the outside world.
CNN is researching some candidates for the position, according to experts and analysts.
Mojtaba, Khamenei’s second son, is known to wield great influence behind the scenes and has strong ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the country’s most powerful military organization, and its volunteer militia, the Basij.
But father-to-son succession is frowned upon by the Shiite Muslim clergy, especially in Iran, a revolutionary country born after overthrowing the widely condemned monarchy. A further hurdle is that Mojtaba is not a senior cleric and has no formal role in the government. He was sanctioned by the United States in 2019.
Though little known, Mr. Alafi is a prominent cleric with a track record in government and a close confidant of Ayatollah Khamenei.
He currently serves as vice-chairman of the Assembly of Experts and is also a member of the powerful Guardian Council, which scrutinizes election candidates and laws passed by parliament. He is also the head of Iran’s seminary system.
Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute said Khamenei’s willingness to appoint Allafi to a strategically important senior position shows that he has “great confidence in his abilities as a bureaucrat.” Still, Alafi is not known to be a political heavyweight and has no close ties to security services.
He is said to be tech-savvy, fluent in Arabic and English, and to have published 24 books and articles, Vatanka wrote.
Mirbagheri is a hard-line cleric and member of the Council of Experts, which represents the most conservative positions in the clergy.
He was recently reported to have justified the high death toll in Israel’s war in Gaza by saying that it would be “worth it” for half the world’s population to die if it brought them closer to God.
According to activist outlet IranWire, he is strongly opposed to the West and believes that conflict between believers and infidels is inevitable. He currently chairs the Islamic Academy of Sciences in the northern holy city of Qom.
Khomeini is the grandson of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, giving him religious and revolutionary legitimacy.
He is the custodian of Khomeini’s mausoleum, but has never held public office and appears to have little influence over the country’s security services or ruling elite. He is known to be less of a hard-liner than many of his colleagues, and in 2016 was barred from running for the Council of Experts.
Mr. Busheri is a senior clergyman with close ties to institutions that manage succession, particularly the Council of Experts, where he serves as first vice-chairman.
Although he is said to be close to Ayatollah Khamenei, he is not well known in the country and his strong ties to the Revolutionary Guards are not known.
