TEHRAN – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Revolution, was martyred on the first day of the joint U.S. and Israeli war against Iran on February 28. In this unprovoked, illegal and sudden war, certain top military figures, including Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Abdol-Rahim Mousavi, IRGC Commander Mohammad Pakpour, and Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, were also martyred.

Immediately after this tragic event, a provisional council of leadership composed of three persons, was formed until the Assembly of Experts elects a new Leader.

The members of the provisional council are the president (Masoud Pezeshkian), Judiciary chief (Gholam Hossein Ejeei), and Alireza A’rafi (a Guardian Council member).

The assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei, as a legendary spiritual and political figure, greatly saddened the Iranian people and Muslim nations across the world, especially Shia Muslims. Following his assassination, the government declared a 40-day national mourning. 

The assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei is widely condemned by many heads of state and legal experts. Professor Alfred de Zayas of the Geneva School of Diplomacy told the Tehran times, “Under customary international law and numerous United Nations treaties, Heads of State and other senior officials are entitled to immunity, they cannot be targets of extra-judicial executions.”

Despite this great loss, the Islamic Republic system faces no deadlock.  That is why the Assembly of Experts (Majles-e Khobregan-e Rahbari), which is constitutionally authorized to elect and supervise Leader, started a serious work to elect a new leader and is expected to announce its decision soon.

The Assembly of Experts is an 88member clerical body whose members are directly elected every eight years through a public vote. To secure a seat in the Assembly, candidates must demonstrate their expertise in Islamic jurisprudence by passing several examinations.

The Islamic Republic constitution, which 98.2 percent of the people voted for it in March 1979 and confirmed by Imam Khomeini, has set a clear guideline for electing the leader.

A cleric MP, Ali Reza Salimi, told ISNA news agency on Friday that Articles 107 and 109 of the Constitution have specified the qualifications of the leader. Salimi also said the presiding board of the Assembly will announce who is elected. 

Contrary to speculation by some common people and the elite, Ayatollah Khamenei did not favor any particular person as his successor. In one of his speeches broadcast live on TV, just a few years ago, he said the Assembly members should have a number of candidates in their mind.  

In the Islamic Republic system, Leader has an important status. He carries a great responsibility.  Based on the national Constitution, Leader is Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces among other top responsibilities.  He appoints the commanders of the IRGC, Army, Armed Forces chief (chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff) and some other top military officials. For example, after the war on Iran by Israel and the U.S. on Iran in last June – which was also unprovoked, unannounced and illegal - Ayatollah Khamenei commanded the war and immediately named commanders in place of those who were martyred in the first day of the war on June 13. 

Leader also appoints Judiciary chief and six jurists of the 12-member Guardian Council, that is tasked to monitor elections. Leader also endorses a candidate who is elected president. It is after his confirmation that the president is sworn in before the parliament and is officially inaugurated. 

Prior to the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei, members of the Assembly of Experts held private discussions on possible successors to Ayatollah Khamenei. Now, the efforts to elect the new leader have accelerated. 

Ayatollah Khamenei, during his leadership, had set out certain qualifications for a leader. Among these qualifications is that he must be anticolonialist, brave, pious, just, knowledgeable, and possessing strong managerial abilities. 

In a message sent to Tasnim on Friday, Ayatollah Abbas Kaabi, a member of the Assmebly’s presiding board, has stated that Ayatollah Khamenei in a meeting insisted that the Assembly should determine the criterions of a leader and decide based on them.

In his message, Ayatollah Kaabi said that, following this guidance, a research committee was established for this purpose. He added that the committee members defined the necessary prerequisites and submitted them to the Leader. Kaabi also noted that Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that a leader must be “financially pious” and this must be the first priority.  

At this highly sensitive moment, when foreign adversaries—particularly the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel—are attempting to portray Iran as unstable and claim that there is a power vacuum, efforts are underway to elect a new leader as outlined in the Constitution.

By electing a new leader in such a very short time, Iran will once again demonstrate to the world that the Islamic Republic remains a coherent and dynamic system.

This crucial task is unfolding under intense scrutiny, as Israel is attempting to target gatherings of officials with fighter jets. In an effort to disrupt the process of selecting the new leader, the Fars news agency reported that the office of the Assembly of Experts in the shrine city of Qom was bombarded on Tuesday; however, no meeting was taking place there. Given the security situation, informed sources say the Assembly members are holding regular meetings online.
Ali Akbar Reshad, the chair of the council of seminaries in Tehran province, said the assembly will elect the most qualified person for leader.  
“These jurisprudents, after vetting the qualifications of competent persons, will elect the ‘most qualified’ person for leader,” Reshad told a televised program on Friday.   

He added, as in the past that first Imam Khomeini and then Ayatollah Khamenei were elected as leaders among other jurisprudents, this time “a competent person will also be elected to lead the country.” 

It is also necessary that people abide to the guidelines of the new leader and act upon his orders.

It is necessary to note that during the years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also acted as arbitrators between rival factions over certain controversial issues that emerged once in a while. They acted as unifying national figures. Both leaders stood against extremism by each faction or group. Being certain that there is a senior political and religious figure at the top that prevents the emergence of serious problems between factions, the people as well as officials had a comfortable feeling. In a sense, they acted as the father of the great Iranian family. 

For example, when the Iranian negotiating team concluded the 2015 nuclear deal with the 5+1 countries, they faced heavy criticism from certain parliamentarians and others who accused them of offering excessive concessions. In response, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution defended the negotiators, calling them s “the children of the Islamic Revolution” whose work is similar to those fighting in the war fronts.

In view of this fact and great responsibilities, the Assembly will surely choose a leader who will run the country at this highly volatile situation, that Iran has come under illegal attacks by the United States and Israel.

Hopefully, once the name of the new leader is announced, Iran will successfully move through this difficult stage.