The Media Line: Assembly of Experts: The Name of Iran’s Next Leader Will Be Announced ‘Soon’  

Assembly of Experts: The Name of Iran’s Next Leader Will Be Announced ‘Soon’  

Omid Habibinia/The Media Line  

On Tuesday afternoon, the Assembly of Experts building in Qom—where it was said a session had been convened to choose a new leader of the Islamic Republic following the killing of Ali Khamenei—was struck by fighter jets. Images later shared on social media suggested the building had been completely destroyed, and it was reported that some people were killed or wounded there. Hours later, however, it was announced that the leadership-selection process had been completed.  

Late on Tuesday night, Fars News Agency, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed that the Assembly of Experts building had been evacuated in advance due to the risk of an attack, and that the leadership selection was conducted virtually and had entered its final stages. According to Fars, the result would be announced “soon.”  

According to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, the Assembly of Experts building in Qom was targeted in a missile strike. Last night, the Israeli fighter jets also struck the Assembly’s former building—where its sessions are usually held—suggesting that the meeting may have been moved to Qom for that reason.  

A journalist in Iran told The Media Line that if reports about an attack on the Assembly of Experts meeting were accurate—and if members had been killed or wounded—it would effectively have made the selection of a new leader impossible. Holding another session, he said, would appear extremely difficult given Israel’s intelligence reach, and the Assembly would, until further notice, have lacked the minimum quorum required for decision-making and voting.  

He added that, if the report was true, Israel’s penetration and intelligence capability would be so extensive that the strike on the Assembly’s building may have been intended to force members to relocate—so that Israel could hit it in time.  

Some reports on Telegram channels close to the regime also suggested that the Assembly of Experts, after reviewing a previously prepared list of candidates, was moving toward a decision on whether to proceed to a vote—something Axios had also referenced. However, Fars categorically denied that the Assembly had met in person.  

Some figures close to the regime have named Mojtaba Khamenei the son of former leader Ali Khamenei, Hassan Khomeini, grandchild of Ruhollah Khomeini and Alireza Arafi as among the candidates under discussion. None of them has an official record of senior executive experience at the highest levels of leadership. Their influence within the IRGC is also believed to be limited—except for Khamenei’s son.   

Even Mojtaba Khamenei, who in the past was seen as highly influential within Iran’s financial oligarchy and the security and intelligence bodies, appears over the past year—following the suspension of his religious teaching—to have intervened less directly in executive affairs. In addition, no information has been released about Mojtaba Khamenei’s status since the strike on the Khamenei family residence in the first minutes of the joint Israeli-US attack on Iran; the only confirmed report so far is that his wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, was killed.  

Under the Assembly of Experts’ bylaws, at least 59 members must be present for sessions related to selecting the leader. The leader—chosen by secret ballot—must receive two-thirds of the votes. If the leadership vote were conducted not in person, it would mark the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic that a new leader was selected through remote voting.  

Sadeq Larijani and Mohammad Mahdi-Mirbagheri are also among the names that have been floated in recent years, though they have faced more opposition than others. However, following Khamenei’s killing, Ali Larijani’s position has strengthened.   

As the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and the brother of Sadeq Larijani—currently head of the Expediency Discernment Council—Sadeq Larijani may emerge as a pragmatic option if he can reach greater accommodation with the IRGC and with his opponents, who accuse the Larijani brothers of power-grabbing and financial corruption. In wartime conditions, he may be presented as a survival-oriented choice aimed at increasing the Islamic Republic’s chances of endurance.  

Fars also reported that Khamenei had not nominated a preferred successor. It suggested that an official announcement of the selection outcome could come “in the coming hours, or perhaps in the coming days.”  

 

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