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The death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after almost 37 years in power raises paramount questions about Iran’s future.The contours of a complex succession process began to take shape the morning after Khamenei’s killing in an airstrike campaign by the United States and Israel.Here is what to know:Temporary leadership councilAs outlined in its constitution, Iran on Sunday formed a council to assume leadership duties and govern the country.The council is made up of Iran’s sitting president, the head of the country’s judiciary and a member of the Guardian Council chosen by Iran’s Expediency Council, which advises the supreme leader and settles disputes with parliament.Iran’s reformist president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, are its members who will step in and “temporarily assume all the duties of leadership.”Panel of clericsThough the leadership council will govern in the interim, an 88-member panel called the Assembly of Experts “must, as soon as possible” pick a new supreme leader under Iranian law.Video below: Violence intensifies in the Middle East after U.S. and Israel killed Iran’s Supreme LeaderThe panel consists entirely of Shiite clerics who are popularly elected every eight years and whose candidacies are approved by the Guardian Council, Iran’s constitutional watchdog.That body is known for disqualifying candidates in various elections in Iran and the Assembly of Experts is no different. The Guardian Council barred former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate whose administration struck the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, from election for the Assembly of Experts in March 2024. Rare transitionThere has been only one other transfer of power in the office of supreme leader of Iran, the paramount decision-maker since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.In 1989, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died at age 86 after being the figurehead of the revolution and leading Iran through its eight-year war with Iraq. This transition now comes after Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran in June 2025 as well.Vast powersThe supreme leader is at the heart of Iran’s complex power-sharing Shiite theocracy and has final say over all matters of state.He also serves as the commander-in-chief of the country’s military and the powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force that the United States designated a terrorist organization in 2019, and which Khamenei empowered during his rule.The Guard, which has led the self-described “Axis of Resistance,” a series of militant groups and allies across the Middle East meant to counter the U.S. and Israel, also has extensive wealth and holdings in Iran.Top contenders to be Iran’s supreme leaderMojtaba KhameneiThe son of Khamenei, a mid-level Shiite cleric, is widely considered a potential successor. He has strong ties to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard but has never held office. His selection could prove awkward, as the Islamic Republic has long criticized hereditary rule and cast itself as a more just alternative.Ayatollah Ali Reza ArafiArafi is a member of the provisional government council. The senior Shiite cleric was handpicked by Khamenei to be a member of the Guardian Council in 2019, and three years later he was elected to the Assembly of Experts. He leads a network of seminaries.Hassan RouhaniRouhani, a relative moderate, was president of Iran from 2013 to 2021 and reached the landmark nuclear agreement with the Obama administration that U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped during his first term. Rouhani served on the Assembly of Experts until 2024, when he said he was disqualified from running for reelection. Rouhani criticized it as an infringement on Iranians’ political participation.Hassan KhomeiniKhomeini is the most prominent grandson of the founder of Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He is also seen as a relative moderate, but has never held government office. He currently works at his grandfather’s mausoleum in Tehran.Ayatollah Mohammed Mehdi MirbagheriMirbagheri is a senior cleric popular with hard-liners who serves on the Assembly of Experts.He was close to the late Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a fellow hard-liner who wrote that Iran should not deprive itself of the right to produce “special weapons,” a veiled reference to nuclear arms.During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirbagheri denounced the closure of schools as a “conspiracy.”He is currently the head of the Islamic Cultural Center in Qom, the main center for Islamic teaching in Iran.
The death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after almost 37 years in power raises paramount questions about Iran’s future.
The contours of a complex succession process began to take shape the morning after Khamenei’s killing in an airstrike campaign by the United States and Israel.
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Here is what to know:
Temporary leadership council
As outlined in its constitution, Iran on Sunday formed a council to assume leadership duties and govern the country.
The council is made up of Iran’s sitting president, the head of the country’s judiciary and a member of the Guardian Council chosen by Iran’s Expediency Council, which advises the supreme leader and settles disputes with parliament.
Iran’s reformist president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, are its members who will step in and “temporarily assume all the duties of leadership.”
Panel of clerics
Though the leadership council will govern in the interim, an 88-member panel called the Assembly of Experts “must, as soon as possible” pick a new supreme leader under Iranian law.
Video below: Violence intensifies in the Middle East after U.S. and Israel killed Iran’s Supreme Leader
The panel consists entirely of Shiite clerics who are popularly elected every eight years and whose candidacies are approved by the Guardian Council, Iran’s constitutional watchdog.
That body is known for disqualifying candidates in various elections in Iran and the Assembly of Experts is no different. The Guardian Council barred former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate whose administration struck the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, from election for the Assembly of Experts in March 2024.
Rare transition
There has been only one other transfer of power in the office of supreme leader of Iran, the paramount decision-maker since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In 1989, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died at age 86 after being the figurehead of the revolution and leading Iran through its eight-year war with Iraq. This transition now comes after Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran in June 2025 as well.
Vast powers
The supreme leader is at the heart of Iran’s complex power-sharing Shiite theocracy and has final say over all matters of state.
He also serves as the commander-in-chief of the country’s military and the powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force that the United States designated a terrorist organization in 2019, and which Khamenei empowered during his rule.
The Guard, which has led the self-described “Axis of Resistance,” a series of militant groups and allies across the Middle East meant to counter the U.S. and Israel, also has extensive wealth and holdings in Iran.
Top contenders to be Iran’s supreme leader
Mojtaba Khamenei
The son of Khamenei, a mid-level Shiite cleric, is widely considered a potential successor. He has strong ties to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard but has never held office. His selection could prove awkward, as the Islamic Republic has long criticized hereditary rule and cast itself as a more just alternative.
Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi
Arafi is a member of the provisional government council. The senior Shiite cleric was handpicked by Khamenei to be a member of the Guardian Council in 2019, and three years later he was elected to the Assembly of Experts. He leads a network of seminaries.
Hassan Rouhani
Rouhani, a relative moderate, was president of Iran from 2013 to 2021 and reached the landmark nuclear agreement with the Obama administration that U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped during his first term. Rouhani served on the Assembly of Experts until 2024, when he said he was disqualified from running for reelection. Rouhani criticized it as an infringement on Iranians’ political participation.
Hassan Khomeini
Khomeini is the most prominent grandson of the founder of Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He is also seen as a relative moderate, but has never held government office. He currently works at his grandfather’s mausoleum in Tehran.
Ayatollah Mohammed Mehdi Mirbagheri
Mirbagheri is a senior cleric popular with hard-liners who serves on the Assembly of Experts.
He was close to the late Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a fellow hard-liner who wrote that Iran should not deprive itself of the right to produce “special weapons,” a veiled reference to nuclear arms.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirbagheri denounced the closure of schools as a “conspiracy.”
He is currently the head of the Islamic Cultural Center in Qom, the main center for Islamic teaching in Iran.
