UANI Resource: Likely Successors To Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

Eve Of The 41st Anniversary Of Islamic Revolution Inspires Experts To Consider Next Regime Leader 

(New York, N.Y.) – February 11 marks the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. In its history, the Islamic Republic has only had two Supreme Leaders: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who held the position from 1979 until his death in 1989, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has held the position since Khomeini's death. Khamenei will subsequently celebrate his 31st year next June, and with that has come rumors of who may succeed him. UANI’s resource, Eye On Iran’s Next Supreme Leader: The Ranking, explains who each of the most likely potential successors to Khamenei may be, and the history of the procedural measures that are taken when the regime selects its Supreme Leader.

Ebrahim Raisi: Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, born in 1960, has largely avoided the limelight in his decades-long career as a government official, although in recent years there has been a concerted campaign to boost his public profile.

Sadeq Amoli Larijani: The Head of Iran’s Expediency Council Sadeq Larijani, who was born in 1960 in Iraq, is a member of the Larijani dynasty—his father was a grand ayatollah, his brother Ali has served as speaker of the parliament, and his other brother, Mohammad-Javad, was a longtime diplomat for the Islamic Republic and served as secretary-general of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights.

President Hassan Rouhani: Although President Rouhani hails from the pragmatic wing of Iranian conservative politics, he is a loyal regime insider committed to upholding Iran’s revolutionary Islamist ideology.

When the supreme leader dies or is incapacitated, the Assembly of Experts is constitutionally charged with selecting his successor. It’s possible that in the interim, Iran will form a leadership council comprised of officials like the head of the Assembly of Experts, the judiciary, and potentially even the presidency while the key stakeholders in succession—like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Shiite clergy—build consensus. The Iranian people elect members—88 Islamic jurists—to the Assembly of Experts every eight years and it has a leadership board and six subcommittees. According to Iranian media reports, the Assembly of Experts has formed a committee to vet candidates for the next supreme leadership. Only current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has access to the dossiers compiled by the committee.

To read UANI’s resource, Eye On Iran’s Next Supreme Leader: The Ranking, please click here.

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