Iran names Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to interim leadership council after Khamenei’s death

ALBAWABA- Iran’s Assembly of Experts appointed senior cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arafi as the jurist member of a three-person interim Leadership Council on Sunday, following the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Saturday. 

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The council, which also includes President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, will temporarily assume the supreme leader’s duties under Article 111 of Iran’s constitution until a permanent successor is selected by the Assembly. State media IRNA described the move as ensuring continuity amid national mourning and escalating regional conflict.

Born in 1959 in Meybod, Yazd province, Arafi is a prominent Shia scholar from a clerical family, with his father having been a close associate of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. 

He currently heads Iran’s seminary system, serves on the Guardian Council, and sits on the Assembly of Experts, highlighting his deep integration into the regime’s religious hierarchy. While Arafi is considered a potential successor to Khamenei, he maintains a lower profile compared with figures like Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, though his 2025 reappointment to key posts reflected alignment with hardline ideologies.

The interim appointment comes amid heightened U.S.-Israeli pressure, with President Donald Trump pledging “uninterrupted” strikes for regime change and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to target Iran’s leadership comprehensively. 

Tehran has retaliated with thousands of missiles and drone attacks on U.S. bases across the Gulf, claiming hits on 27 sites, as well as on Israeli sites across Israel.