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The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli air attacks has thrust Tehran to a pivotal crossroads as the ruling establishment looks to pick the late supreme leader’s successor.
Several senior leaders close to Khamenei were also killed in the attack, including his top security adviser Ali Shamkhani and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander-in-chief Mohammad Pakpour.
Tehran on Sunday targeted more sites in Gulf countries in retaliation as it vowed to avenge the killing of Khamenei. Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump has warned against the retaliatory attacks and suggested that the strikes on Iran would continue.
The US-Israeli attacks were launched on Saturday despite several rounds of diplomatic engagement with Tehran that raised hopes of a deal on its nuclear programme.
The assassination of Khamenei, who took power in 1989, has left Iran’s top leadership to prepare for the transfer of power at a time when the US, the world’s strongest military power, has pledged to dismantle the ruling structure established following Iran’s 1979 revolution.
So, who will be the next supreme leader of Iran? And how will he be chosen?
A woman wails and holds a poster as thousands of people gather in Enghelab Square for a pro-government demonstration after Iranian state media confirmed the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 1, 2026 in Tehran, Iran [Majid Saeedi/Getty Images]How is the supreme leader selected?
Iran’s supreme leader is selected by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body elected by the public every eight years.
Candidates who run for the Assembly must first be vetted and approved by the Guardian Council, a powerful oversight body whose members are partly appointed by the supreme leader himself.
When the position becomes vacant, due to death or resignation, the Assembly of Experts convenes to choose a successor. A simple majority is sufficient to appoint the new supreme leader.
As per Iran’s constitution, the candidate must be a senior jurist with deep knowledge of jurisprudence in Shia Islam, as well as qualities such as political judgement, courage, and administrative capability.
Earlier, there had been only one other transfer of power in the office of the supreme leader of Iran, when Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution, died at age 86 in 1989.
Emergency personnel stand at the site of an Iranian missile strike on a residential building, after Iran launched missile barrages following attacks by the United States and Israel on Saturday, in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 1, 2026 [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]What happens in Iran during a leadership vacuum?
Article 111 of Iran’s constitution mandates that a temporary council handle duties until a new supreme leader is elected.
That council will include President Masoud Pezeshkian, Supreme Court Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, and a cleric from the Guardian Council, according to Iranian media. Ayatollah Alireza Arafi from the Guardian Council, 67, was on Sunday appointed to the three-member temporary council.
They will lead the country until the assembly formally picks the new supreme leader.
Iran’s security chief and a close confidante of the late Khamenei, Ali Larijani, said on Sunday that the transition process is under way.
Luciano Zaccara, a research associate professor in Gulf politics at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera that Iran’s political system has been prepared for the current situation, knowing that Khamenei’s assassination was a real possibility.
“Trump wants to get the best deal possible, but the method he’s using to get that deal is to annihilate or destroy as much as he can,” Zaccara said. “This is the way to impose conditions, not to negotiate anything. Trump wants a surrender of the regime, not a change.”
To avoid a vacuum of power, the late Khamenei kept replacements for all the officials eliminated in the last few months ready, and made sure to put in a structure, Zaccara told Al Jazeera.
“The structures remain, the line of power [and] the line of command remain in place,” he said.
(Al Jazeera)Who is the supreme leader of Iran?
The supreme leader is the top position in the Islamic Republic’s political and religious hierarchy under the velayat-e faqih system – the principle of the guardianship of the Islamic jurist.
He is essentially the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the final word in the country – and appoints key judicial, military, and media officials. He also leads the mighty IRGC.
Here are the contenders for the top job in Tehran
Mojtaba Khamenei (left), the second son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah’s office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024 [Handout/Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency via Reuters]Mojtaba Khamenei
Khamenei’s second son, Mojtaba Khamenei, is among the top contenders to succeed his father as the next supreme leader.
He is known to wield significant influence among the administrators and the IRGC, the most powerful military body.
However, Khamenei’s lineage is also among the biggest barriers he faces. He was reportedly opposed to the father-to-son succession. It is frowned upon in Iran, particularly after the US-backed monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was toppled in 1979.
Pope Francis is shown a gift as he receives Ayatollah Alireza Arafi (centre), president of the Islamic Seminaries of Iran, and his entourage in a private audience at the Vatican, May 30, 2022 [Handout/Vatican Media via Reuters]Alireza Arafi
Arafi, a 67-year-old cleric, is an influential figure in the Islamic Republic’s religious establishment, but not a widely accepted political actor.
He serves as the deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for overseeing the selection of the supreme leader, and has been a member of the Guardian Council, which vets election candidates and laws passed by parliament.
Arafi was appointed as the jurist member of Iran’s Leadership Council, the body tasked with fulfilling the supreme leader’s role until the Assembly of Experts elects a new leader, Iran’s state media reported on Sunday.
He is also the Friday prayer leader of Qom – Iran’s most important religious centre – and heads the country’s seminary system, overseeing clerical education nationwide.
Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri
Mirbagheri is an ultra-hardline clerical voice in the establishment and a member of the Assembly of Experts.
He is widely known for his world view critical of the West – and currently heads the Islamic Sciences Academy in the northern city of Qom.
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei
Mohseni-Ejei is a senior Iranian cleric and currently heads the judiciary of the Islamic Republic, appointed to the role in July 2021 by the late Khamenei.
He previously served as minister of intelligence from 2005 to 2009 and later as prosecutor-general and first deputy chief justice. He is regarded as a hardline figure aligned with the conservative wing of the regime.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s grandson, Hassan Khomeini (right), stands next to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the 36th anniversary of the death of the leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, at Khomeini’s shrine in southern Tehran, Iran, June 4, 2025 [Handout/Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA via Reuters]Hassan Khomeini
Khomeini, 54, is among the most discussed names in succession talks for the next supreme leader.
He is the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, and also the custodian of his grandfather’s mausoleum in Tehran.
While he has not held a public office, Khomeini is a reformist figure known for his rather moderate views on public life and policy. He attempted to run for the Assembly of Experts in 2016, but the vetting council disqualified him.
