{"id":121624,"date":"2026-03-01T14:05:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T09:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=121624"},"modified":"2026-03-01T14:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T09:05:15","slug":"who-will-lead-iran-next-succession-process-begins-after-khameneis-demise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/121624\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will lead Iran next? Succession process begins after Khamenei&#8217;s demise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>TEHRAN(National Times)-  Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei\u2019s killing in US-Israel joint missile strikes, has raised critical questions about the country\u2019s political future and the process of succession. Under the Constitution of Iran, an interim leadership council is formed immediately after the Supreme Leader\u2019s death. This temporary body assumes the Leader\u2019s responsibilities until a permanent successor is appointed. The council consists of the sitting president, the head of the judiciary, and a cleric selected from the Guardian Council by the Expediency Council. Among the current interim figures are President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei. However, their role is temporary. The authority to appoint the next Supreme Leader lies with the 88-member Assembly of Experts, a body of elected Shia clerics chosen through public elections every eight years. The Guardian Council vets candidates before they can run for the Assembly. The selection process is largely conducted behind closed doors, making predictions difficult. Previously, former President Ebrahim Raisi was widely seen as a potential successor before his death in 2024. Now, speculation surrounds Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of Ali Khamenei, though he has never held formal public office. This marks only the second leadership transition in the Islamic Republic\u2019s history. The first occurred in 1989 after the death of Ruhollah Khomeini, when Ali Khamenei was selected as Supreme Leader. The coming weeks are expected to be decisive as Iran navigates one of the most sensitive transitions in its history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TEHRAN(National Times)- Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei\u2019s killing in US-Israel joint missile strikes, has raised critical questions about the country\u2019s political future and the process of succession. Under the Constitution of Iran, an interim leadership council is formed immediately after the Supreme Leader\u2019s death. This temporary body assumes the Leader\u2019s responsibilities until a permanent successor [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who will lead Iran next? Succession process begins after Khamenei&#039;s demise - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/121624\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who will lead Iran next? Succession process begins after Khamenei&#039;s demise - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TEHRAN(National Times)- Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei\u2019s killing in US-Israel joint missile strikes, has raised critical questions about the country\u2019s political future and the process of succession. Under the Constitution of Iran, an interim leadership council is formed immediately after the Supreme Leader\u2019s death. This temporary body assumes the Leader\u2019s responsibilities until a permanent successor [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/121624\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-01T09:05:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-01T09:05:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-670x370-56.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/121624\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/121624\/\",\"name\":\"Who will lead Iran next? 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