The clerical body responsible for choosing Iran’s next supreme leader to succeed the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has broadly reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.
According to a Reuters report, Mirbaqeri told the Mehr news agency that the panel had “more or less” reached agreement on a successor, though “some obstacles” in the process still needed to be resolved.
A senior cleric in the Assembly of Experts had said on Saturday that members would meet “within one day” to formally select the next leader.
Two members of the panel , Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir and Ahmad Alamolhoda, also said the assembly had already chosen a successor, Iranian media reported, according to Reuters. Alamolhoda added that the head of the assembly’s secretariat, Ayatollah Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, would be responsible for announcing the decision, the report added.
However, Iranian media reported that there was some disagreement within the body over whether members needed to meet in person to issue the final decision or bypass that formality.
Heidari Alekasir said in a video released by Nournews, cited by Reuters on Sunday, that an in-person meeting was not possible under the current circumstances and suggested remote or written alternatives.
“This is an extraordinary situation, the assembly cannot meet in a plenary,” he said, adding that targeting the assembly would benefit Iran’s enemies and “harm the revolution”.
Israeli and US strikes since the war began on February 28 have killed dozens of Iranian officials and commanders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. It has also been reported earlier that strikes had flattened an auxiliary building of the Assembly of Experts in the city of Qom.
Heidari Alekasir said the chosen candidate had been selected based on the late supreme leader’s advice that Iran’s top leader should be someone “hated by the enemy” rather than praised by it, the report added.
“Even the Great Satan (the United States) has mentioned his name,” the cleric said, referring to comments by US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Thursday that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, a mid-ranking hardline cleric, appeared to be the most likely successor, according to Axios, but warned he would oppose such a move and suggested he should have a role in selecting Iran’s next leader.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was not in Tehran when his father was killed in air strikes early in the war, said Reuters citing an Iranian source.
He has close ties to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and is considered one of the most influential figures in the country’s clerical establishment due to the influence he has wielded behind the scenes and his role as his father’s gatekeeper, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Reuters.
Despite never holding a formal government position beyond working in his father’s office, he has long been viewed as one of the leading contenders to succeed the elder Khamenei.
Ali Khamenei had served as Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 after previously serving nearly eight years as president.
Mojtaba Khamenei also drew criticism from protesters during the nationwide unrest in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman in police custody after she was arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code rules. He is widely seen as having influence over Iran’s security apparatus, which has suppressed several waves of protests in recent years.