The death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes on Saturday marks a major transition for Iran — he was the Islamic Republic of Iran’s second leader after nearly 37 years in power.
He was succeeded by the regime’s founding figure, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, when he died in June 1989 – just 10 years after the establishment of the republic in 1979.
Iran’s Supreme Leader has the final say in all matters of state.
Which senior leaders have passed away?
Along with Khamenei, several other senior officials were killed in US-Israeli airstrikes.
Among them are Iran’s army chief General Abdol Rahim Mousavi and Defense Minister General Aziz Nasirzadeh.
Major General Mohammad Pakpour, who took over as top commander of the Revolutionary Guard after Israel killed its last commander last June, and Ali Shamkhani, Khamenei’s top security adviser, were also killed.
Clockwise from top left: Mohammad Pakpour, Aziz Nasirzadeh, Abdol Rahim Mousavi and Ali Shamkhani. Images: Reuters
Latest updates on the Iran conflict
Iranian media reported that Khamenei’s daughter, grandchildren, son-in-law and daughter-in-law were also killed.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also claimed to have killed:
• Saleh Asadi, Head of Intelligence Directorate of Khatam Al Anbiya Emergency Command;
• Mohammad Shirazi, Chief of the Military Bureau;
• Hossein Jabal Amelian, Head of SPND (Organisation for Defense Innovation and Research);
• and former head of the SPND and former deputy defense minister Reza Mozafari-Nia.
What happens now?
A three-man Provisional Leadership Council was formed to rule the country in accordance with Islamic Republic law and temporarily assume the duties of the Supreme Leader.
It includes Iran’s reformist President Massoud Pezheshkian and the hardline head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.
Alireza Arafi, a jurist who is a member of Iran’s Guardian Council and head of the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary force, will also be present.
“Even after the martyrdom of the venerable Imam Khamenei, we have prepared for such moments and have plans for all scenarios,” said Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Khalibaf.
He said: “Once the Leadership Council is formed, you will see that the strength and integrity of the officers, defense forces and people is beyond imagination.”
The country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that a new Supreme Leader would be chosen in a day or two.
Who will choose the new leader?
The Leadership Council governs in the interim, while an 88-member committee called the Assembly of Experts selects the new leader. According to Iranian law, it must happen as soon as possible.
The committee is made up of Shia clerics who are elected every eight years and whose candidacies are approved by Iran’s Constitutional Guard.
The Guardian Council is known to disqualify candidates. It also blocked Iran’s former president Hassan Rouhani from being elected to a meeting of experts in March 2024.
A relative moderate, he struck the JCPOA nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, which the US later withdrew under Donald Trump.
Who is the new Supreme Leader?
Under Iran’s vilayat-e faqih system — the guardianship of Islamic jurists — the supreme leader must be a senior leader with political and religious authority.
Khamenei’s authority was often exercised through close advisers. But it is unclear how many survived and it has not been publicly recorded that a successor has been named.
His son Mojtaba Khamenei, a 56-year-old cleric, is considered a possible successor. However, he has never held a government post.
That being said, he is described as a gatekeeper to his father.
He studied under religious conservatives in seminaries in the city of Qom and is described as a hardliner with close ties to the Revolutionary Guard.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the now late Supreme Leader, in 2019. File photo: AP
Former president Ibrahim Raisi was thought to have sought the leadership, but he died in a helicopter crash in May 2024.
Regime change?
Mr Trump is urging the Iranians to seize the opportunity to topple the Islamic Republic, it has been alleged Killing tens of thousands of its own citizens In recent weeks.
The US president described Khamenei’s death as “the single greatest opportunity for the Iranian people to reclaim their country”.
And many people in the Revolutionary Guard, the military and other security and police forces “don’t want to fight anymore,” he said.
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How have Iranians reacted to the death of the Supreme Leader?
Before the Iranian Revolution, Iran was ruled by a monarchy, with the king known as the “Shah”.
Reza PahlaviThe US-born son of the Shah, who was deposed in the 1979 revolution, said: “With (Khamenei’s) death, the Islamic Republic has reached its end and will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.”
Any attempts to appoint Khamenei’s successor are “doomed to fail from the start”, Mr Pahlavi said, lacking longevity or legitimacy.
He urged Iran’s military, law enforcement and security forces to take their “final chance to join the nation.”
