Iran Forms Interim Leadership Council After Khamenei’s Death; Ayatollah Alireza Arafi Named Jurist Member

Iran’s government has established a three-person interim council to assume the duties of Supreme Leader following the confirmed killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike late last week, state media reported Sunday.

The council, as required under Article 111 of Iran’s constitution, comprises President Masoud Pezeshkian, judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, and a jurist (faqih) from the Guardian Council. Iranian state news agency IRNA and ISNA confirmed that Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, a senior cleric and long-time member of the Guardian Council, has been appointed as the legal/jurist member to temporarily carry out the Supreme Leader’s responsibilities.

This transitional body will oversee national affairs, including military command and foreign policy, until the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of senior clerics, selects a permanent successor “as soon as possible.” The assembly is expected to convene imminently amid heightened regional tensions and vows of retaliation from Iranian officials.

Arafi, 67, is a conservative figure with deep ties to Iran’s clerical establishment. He serves as deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, heads the country’s nationwide seminary system, and leads Al-Mustafa International University. Widely regarded as a loyal confidant of the late Khamenei, Arafi brings institutional continuity and doctrinal legitimacy to the council during this crisis, though he lacks strong independent ties to the Revolutionary Guard Corps or broader security apparatus.

Reports from Iranian outlets like ISNA describe Arafi’s role explicitly as the “legal member” of the Governing Council tasked with interim Supreme Leader duties, aligning with constitutional provisions designed to prevent a power vacuum.

The death of Khamenei, who held the position since 1989, marks only the second leadership transition in the Islamic Republic’s history. Potential long-term successors frequently discussed in recent analyses include Arafi himself, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei, judiciary head Mohseni-Eje’i, and others such as Hassan Khomeini or Sadegh Larijani. However, no permanent appointment has been announced, and deliberations remain opaque.

The interim arrangement comes as Iran grapples with the aftermath of the strikes, ongoing conflict risks, and internal calls for stability. President Pezeshkian, a relative reformist, shares the council with hard-liner Mohseni-Eje’i, highlighting the regime’s factional balancing act in this fragile period.