Hours after the death of long-time Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli airstrike, Iran appointed Ayatollah Alireza Arafi as his temporary replacement. Khamenei had held the position since 1989 after the passing of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution. A three-member council, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, will oversee Iran’s leadership during the transition period.
The council, as per the IRNA news agency, will manage leadership responsibilities until a successor is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body with ultimate authority over Iran’s political system and institutions. Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, a Shia cleric and Islamic jurist, born in 1959 in Meybod, central Iran, has been appointed as the interim Supreme Leader. He heads Iran’s Centre for the Management of Islamic Seminaries and has been the Director of the Qom Seminary since 2016.
Ayatollah Arafi is also a member of the Guardian Council, a key constitutional body responsible for vetting legislation and overseeing elections. He previously served as President of Al-Mustafa International University from 2008 to 2018 and has been a permanent member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution since 2011.
