An election for the third supreme leader of Iran will be held following the end of the current tenure of Ali Khamenei. As of July 2025, no person has been officially declared as the heir to Khamenei nor as a nominee, though various sources such as Reuters and BBC News have reported on potential candidates.[1][2]
In 2014, it was reported that the succession of Khamenei is deemed to have been decided but not disclosed publicly.[1][3] Constitutionally, the Assembly of Experts is tasked to select the next leader. Its sixth and current session began after it was elected in 2024 and is scheduled to sit until 2032.
Khamenei has not discussed his replacement. He has said the selection must be made without shame or regard for expediency, rather based on the three principles of "truth, the need of the country and God".[4][5] As of 2024, a four-member council of the Assembly of Experts was examining possible candidates in secrecy while advising the current leader.[6][7] One of the members said that a successor had already been chosen but declined to disclose their identity for their safety.[8]
The Supreme Leader of Iran is selected by members of the Assembly of Experts to serve a life tenure. According to Article 111 of Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, if the incumbent Supreme Leader dies in office or is dismissed, the Assembly of Experts should immediately hold a session and appoint a successor.[12] A Provisional Leadership Council consisting of the President, the Chief Justice and one of the clerics of the Guardian Council who is selected by the Expediency Discernment Council, is mandated to carry out the interim duties of the supreme leader until a permanent successor is selected.[12]
Alleged plans and official plan
In December 2015, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said a committee in the Assembly of Experts "is examining potential candidates to be the next Supreme Leader". He also said the Assembly would be open to choosing "a council of leaders if needed" instead of a single leader.[1]
During his presidency, Hassan Rouhani was often considered by some as a potential successor.[3]Ahmad Khatami told press in 2016 that a committee made up of three Assembly members had given three names to the supreme leader "to seek his verdict", but later remarked what he said was "hypothetical" and blamed media for misreporting his words.[13]Mohsen Araki, commented in June 2019 that the committee has drafted a "top secret list of prospective supreme leaders" and will present three names to the Assembly "when it is necessary."[13]Hashem Hashemzadeh Herisi confirmed that such a committee exists, adding that the names on the list will not be disclosed. He also stated that the decisions made by the committee will not be fateful because the next leader must be voted by a majority of all members in the assembly.[13] Prior to that, in February 2019 Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestari had categorically dismissed allegations that Ebrahim Raisi and Ahmad Khatami were considered as candidates for the next leader by the assembly, stating that the question "has never been debated at the assembly".[14]
As of 2023, the Assembly of Experts was discussing a potential program to reestablish the post of Vice Supreme Leader, which was last held by Hussein-Ali Montazeri from 1985 to 1989.[15]
In November 2024, government leaker Abbas Palizdar said that Mojtaba Khamenei had quit the seminary to succeed his father.[16] It was later reported by Al Arabiya that according to the Assembly of Experts, three people had been nominated to replace Khamenei.[17] On 16 November it was reported by Israeli newspaper Ynet that Khamenei picked his son Mojtaba,[18] which was later denied by the pro-government Tehran Times newspaper in January 2025.[19]
Shortly before the Iran–Israel war, Khamenei requested the Assembly of Experts to prepare for the selection of his successor.[20] Following the United States strikes on Iranian nuclear sites during the war, the New York Times reported that Khamenei picked "three senior clerics" for his successorship if he is assassinated.[21]
Analysis
In 2023, Israeli military intelligence had assessed President Ebrahim Raisi would succeed Khamenei.[22]John Bolton argued the regime would be vulnerable in the event of Khamenei's death.[23] In the aftermath of Raisi's death, Mojtaba Khamenei's status as a potential successor to his father became more plausible, although Ali Khamenei had reportedly opposed this.[24][25][26][27] The Middle East Institute opined that Khamenei appointing his own son as successor would cause conflict within the Iranian political and religious leadership.[28]
Ruhollah Khomeini's grandson Hassan Khomeini is also considered a possible successor, however, Iran International asserted he is unlikely due to his "exclusion from the regime's upper echelon" and that was "sidelined after being barred from running for the Assembly of Experts" in 2016.[31]
Potential successors
The persons listed in this section are, according to analyses and comments made by various sources, potential candidates (the names are sorted by age):
↑ Beaumont, Peter (20 May 2024). "Iran: who holds power now the president is dead?". The Guardian. ISSN0261-3077. Archived from the original on 6 August 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024. Aged 54, the supreme leader's second eldest son is sometimes mentioned as a potential successor to his father.
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