Will the deceased Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son take over as Supreme Leader?
The process of selecting a successor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has begun after his assassination. A council of senior religious leaders met on Tuesday to discuss the selection of the next supreme leader. This council of senior religious leaders is responsible for electing the supreme leader in Iran.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Ali Khamenei, is far ahead in the race to become supreme leader, three sources familiar with the discussions said.
The officials said religious leaders are considering declaring Mojtaba Khamenei as his father's successor as early as Wednesday morning local time. However, some have cautioned against the issue. They fear it could make Mojtaba a target for the United States and Israel.
The three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss this highly sensitive internal matter in Iran.
The council of senior religious leaders in Iran is known as the 'Assembly of Experts'. The council held two virtual meetings on Tuesday morning and evening, the officials said.
Meanwhile, Israel struck a building in Qom, Iran, which is one of the main Shiite powerhouses and where the Assembly of Experts was due to meet to elect a new supreme leader.
However, the Fars News Agency reported that the building was empty at the time of the attack.
The election would be a surprise for (Mojtaba) Khamenei, said Vali Nasr, an expert on Iran and Shiite Islam at Johns Hopkins University. At the same time, it could send an important signal.
“He had been earmarked as the successor for a long time. But over the past two years, it seems like the spotlight has shifted away from him. If he is elected, it would signal that it is coming from the more hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is now in charge,” Nasr said. But he is little known to the general public. He worked in the shadows during his father's rule. The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on Iran on Saturday.
Mojtaba Khamenei is known for his close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to the three officials, the Revolutionary Guards pushed for his appointment, arguing that he had the necessary qualifications to lead Iran at this time of crisis.
"Mojtaba is the most prudent choice at this time because he is intimately familiar with managing and coordinating the security and military systems. He has already held this position," said Tehran analyst Mehdi Rahmati.
But not everyone will be happy if Mojtaba is elected, the analyst added.
“There will be a strong and negative reaction from a section of the public to this decision,” Rahmati said. “If he is elected, there could be protests or demonstrations.”
According to Rahmati, supporters of the government will see Mojtaba’s election as a continuation of the rule of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and will quickly support him.
But opponents of the government will similarly see Mojtaba as a continuation of the current regime, which has been accused of killing thousands of people in a crackdown on protests in recent months.
Among the other candidates who have reached the final stages is scholar and jurist Alireza Arafi. He is part of the three-member leadership transition council formed after the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The other is Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution.
Iran's Assembly of Experts, or Council of Experts, is made up of 88 senior Shiite clerics. They are elected by popular vote. According to the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the council is responsible for appointing, supervising and removing the Supreme Leader. The Supreme Leader has only been elected once before in the Islamic Republic's 47-year history.
The Assembly of Experts elected Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader in 1989 after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The Iranian government said Saturday's attack killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with his wife, Zahra Adel, his mother, Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, and one of Mojtaba's sons.
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