Senior Cleric Ayatollah Arafi Named Iran's Interim Supreme Leader After Khamenei's Assassination

Tehran: Senior cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arafi has been named Iran's Interim Supreme Leader after Ayatollah Khamenei's assassination in the ongoing US-Israeli strikes on Iran, state news agency ISNA reported. He has been appointed as the interim leader by the Expediency Discernment Council.

Arafi will now carry out the duties of Iran's Supreme Leader until a successor is chosen. He is co-governing the Islamic Republic along with the President and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

According to Article 111 of the Iran Constitution, a temporary leadership council can assume the Supreme Leader’s duties following his sudden vacancy until a successor is elected. The three members in the council after Khamanei's death are:

1. President Masoud Pezeshkian
2. Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i
3. Ayatollah Alireza Arafi

Who Is Ayatollah Alireza Arafi?

Alireza Arafi holds influential roles within the Assembly of Experts, Iran’s seminary establishment and the Guardian Council. He has been in the Guardian Council, which is an Islamic legal authority, since 2019.

Arafi is the Deputy Chairman of the Assembly of Experts, the body which is responsible for overseeing the selection of the supreme leader of Iran. The senior cleric leads Friday prayers in the city of Qom, which is Iran’s most important religious centre.

Assassination Of Khamenei

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israel airstrikes amid ‘Operation Epic Fury’, Iranian authorities ordered 40 days of mourning. The 86-year-old leader had ruled Iran since 1989.

Following his assassination, US President Donald Trump warned Iran against further retaliation, saying, “Iran just stated that they are going to hit us very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before. THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!”

Trump called Khamenei “one of the most evil person in history”, adding that his assissination is a “justice for the people of Iran” and for all Americans and those people from countries, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his “gang of bloodthirsty thugs”. 

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