Who rules Iran next? Succession scramble after Khamenei’s death
Iran has formed a temporary three-member leadership council after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint U.S.-Israeli attack.
The interim council includes President Masoud Pezeshkian, judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei and senior cleric Alireza Arafi, who is serving as the Guardian Council’s representative.
Pezeshkian, who sources told ABC News was targeted in Saturday’s strikes, resurfaced on Iranian state television to say the council had begun work and that Iran’s armed forces were “powerfully crushing the enemy’s bases.”
Khamenei’s death marks only the second leadership transition in the Islamic Republic’s nearly 50-year history.
Under Article 111 of Iran’s constitution, a three-person council – the president, the head of the judiciary and a Guardian Council representative – assumes the supreme leader’s duties until the Assembly of Experts selects a successor.
What are the Guardian Council and the Assembly of Experts?
The Assembly of Experts is an 88-member clerical body elected every eight years that selects the supreme leader when the position becomes vacant.
Candidates for the Assembly are vetted by the Guardian Council, a 12-member body of Islamic jurists and legal experts. The Guardian Council also reviews legislation to ensure compliance the Islamic law and the constitution and screens candidates for major public offices.
Succession scramble
CNBC reports the leadership council is strictly transitional and that the Assembly must act “in the shortest possible time,” though no formal deadline is set.
The transition is unfolding amid major losses at the top of Iran’s security apparatus. Israel Defense Forces said 40 Iranian commanders were killed in Saturday’s strikes, including the armed forces chief of staff Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi.
“The majority of the highest-ranking senior military officials of the Iranian security leadership have been eliminated by the IDF,” the IDF said, according to The Times of Israel‘s reporting.
Iran on Khamenei’s death
Iranian officials have framed Khamenei’s death as both a national loss and a rallying point.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on state TV that “the passing of a great personality has wounded the hearts of all of us,” and warned Americans that “by stabbing the hearts of the Iranian nation, their hearts will be stabbed.”
“What they did in a cruel way towards the Iranian leadership has angered the people so much that they will never achieve their goals,” Larijani said.
A Guardian Council spokesperson told ABC News that the constitution provides for the current situation and that the temporary council will govern until a new leader is chosen.
Opposition messages and names in circulation
Outside Iran, exiled opposition figures are framing the moment as a potential turning point.
In a CBS News “60 Minutes” interview, Reza Pahlavi called Khamenei’s death “our chance,” said many Iranians see the strikes as a kind of “humanitarian intervention,” and said people are thanking President Donald Trump.
Pahlavi said he does not seek to restore the monarchy or run for office, but wants to serve as a transitional leader toward a democratic system rooted in territorial integrity, separation of religion and state, equal rights and free elections. He also said Iran’s nuclear weapons program should be “totally dismantled.”
“They trust me as a transitional leader,” Pahlavi said. “Not as the future king or future president or future whatever, I’m totally focused on my mission in life, which is let me bring the country to a point that they can make that free choice.”
On possible successors, CNBC reported that Polymarket traders have priced Hassan Khomeini – the grandson of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – as a narrow frontrunner.
Arafi and Mohseni-Ejei are also among the names being discussed as potential successors.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
