Tehran, March 1 – Hours after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in a US-Israeli airstrike, Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi as his interim successor on Sunday.
Ayatollah Khamenei, whose death in an attack on his residence in Tehran was announced by Iran, had been the Supreme Leader since 1989, following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution.
Following the announcement of his death, the government stated that a three-member council consisting of President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and a jurist from the Guardian Council would oversee Iran's leadership during the transitional period, according to the IRNA news agency.
According to Iran's constitution, the council assumes leadership duties until a successor is appointed by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body that holds ultimate authority over the country's political system, armed forces, and key institutions.
According to RT, Shia cleric and Islamic jurist Ayatollah Arafi was born in 1959 in Meybod, central Iran.
He is the head of Iran's Centre for the Management of Islamic Seminaries and Director of the revered Qom Seminary since 2016. He is also a member of the powerful Guardian Council, a constitutional body that vets legislation and oversees elections.
He has served as President of Al-Mustafa International University from 2008 to 2018 and is a permanent member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution since 2011.