TEHRAN – A spokesman with the Assembly of Experts said in comments on Saturday that the body has come up with a shortlist of candidates as likely successors to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

“A committee has been formed in this regard but nobody knows of the names brought up there,” Ahmad Khatami was quoted as saying in a press conference in Tehran.

“However, this is not something new as the issue has been under discussion over the past 20 years,” he explained.

The assembly of 88 members is constitutionally charged with electing a successor for Leader.

Back in 2014, the late Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani spoke of a committee already formed to survey and qualify candidates to succeed the Leader just in case. 

Ayatollah Khamenei, who succeeded the late Imam Khomeini 1989, himself ordered the formation of such confidential committee nearly 15 years ago, according to Khatami. 

“If the Supreme Leader wishes, he will be provided with the names,” he added, emphasizing that even the Leader himself is unaware of the shortlist. 

The Leader can be removed if Assembly of Experts members agree that he lacks the ability to live up to his statutory duties.  

In compliance with Article 109 of Iran’s Constitution, the Leader has to be just, politically and socially savvy, courageous, and meet jurisprudence requirements to issue an edict, or fatwa. 

In a field of more than one candidate, the one with highest political and religious knowledge will be elected by the members of the Assembly of Experts. 

Article 110 of the same constitution authorizes the Leader to outline general policies of the country and the right to oversee the implementation of those guidelines, to announce a plebiscite, and to declare war and peace.
 
As well, the Leader is constitutionally Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces, can depose the president and grant clemency to convicts.  

AK/PA