After Khamenei killed, Iran set for largely opaque supreme succession |
AP — The death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after almost 37 years in power raises paramount questions about the country’s future.
Khamenei, 86, was killed Saturday in a joint US-Israeli strike on his Tehran compound at the outset of a sweeping military operation against the Islamic Republic.
Israel and the US timed the strike to coincide with a meeting the supreme leader was holding with top aides, several of whom were also killed.
Iranian state media confirmed his death early Sunday and declared 40 days of mourning.
The contours of a complex succession process began to take shape the morning after Khamenei’s assassination. Here is what to know:
A temporary leadership council assumes duties
As outlined in its constitution, Iran on Sunday formed a council to assume leadership duties and govern the country.
The council is made up of Iran’s sitting president, the head of the country’s judiciary, and a member of the Guardian Council chosen by Iran’s Expediency Council, which advises the supreme leader and settles disputes with parliament.
Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and hardline judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei are its members who will step in and “temporarily assume all the duties of leadership.”
A panel of clerics selects a new supreme leader
Though the leadership council will govern in the interim, an 88-member panel called the Assembly of Experts “must, as soon as possible,” pick a new supreme leader under Iranian law.
The panel consists........