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3. Iran Activates Transition Council as Assembly of Experts Begins Supreme Leader Succession Process

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani announced Sunday that a constitutional Leadership Council has been formed to assume the responsibilities of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following state television’s earlier report of his death in U.S.-Israeli strikes.

The body tasked with fulfilling the supreme leader’s role is composed of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s head of the judiciary Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and Ali Reza Arafi, a member of the Guardian Council of the Constitution.

According to Larijani, the interim body was established “in accordance with the constitution” and will exercise the powers of the Supreme Leader until a successor is formally selected.

“The enemy is mistaken if it believes that assassinating leaders can destabilize Iran,” Larijani said in remarks broadcast on Iranian state television. He added that constitutional procedures are proceeding “naturally” and that the country’s institutions remain intact.

The Assembly of Experts—a body of 88 clerics—will begin to deliberate on Khamenei’s replacement. 

Under Iranian law, the process of determining the next Ayatollah is expected to be carried out quickly, however there are challenges to gathering the Assembly of Experts under active U.S. and Israeli strikes.

Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the only transfer of power between Supreme Leaders was in 1989 when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assumed the position after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death. 

In Khamenei’s 37 year-long tenure, the Iranian regime’s apparatus has consolidated under his rule. However, this time, there is no apparent heir to the role of Supreme Leader.