A veiled woman holds up a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during a pro-government demonstration in Tehran on November 4, 2022. Khamenei was killed in a US/Israeli airstrike on February 28. (Shutterstock/saeediex)

Who Will Succeed Ali Khamenei in Iran?

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Ali Khamenei has dominated Iran’s clerical system for nearly four decades and sidelined all potential rivals—meaning there is no obvious choice for his successor.

Iranian state media has confirmed reports that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iran’s theocratic ruler since 1989, was killed in a US-Israeli airstrike.

Khamenei’s death came amid the broader US-Israel military campaign against Iran, codenamed “Operation Epic Fury” by US President Donald Trump. As part of the campaign, the United States and Israel struck Tehran and other Iranian cities in what officials from both countries described as a major operation against Iran’s leadership and strategic infrastructure. Missiles and airstrikes reportedly hit targets in central, southern, and eastern parts of Tehran. After strikes on the supreme leader’s compound on Saturday, Israel was quick to announce Khamenei’s death. Trump did so several hours later in a Truth Social post, condemning the former supreme leader as “one of the most evil people in History.”

Khamenei’s Long Shadow over Iran

With Khamenei’s abrupt demise, Iran has entered a historic turning point. The longtime Supreme Leader was not merely a head of state; he was one of the last major figures of the Islamic Republic’s founding generation.

Born in 1939 in the city of Mashhad to a clerical family of Azeri background, he rose through the religious seminaries and became politically active in the anti-Shah movement. He studied in Qom under prominent clerics, including Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and spent years under pressure from the Pahlavi state, including arrests, imprisonment, and internal exile. These early experiences helped shape both his revolutionary credentials and his long-standing distrust of domestic dissent and foreign influence.

After the 1979 revolution, Khamenei quickly entered the new political order. He became a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Council, served in parliament, and was appointed the leader of Tehran’s Friday prayers. In that role, he survived an assassination attempt in June 1981 when a bomb hidden in a tape recorder exploded during a speech, leaving his right arm permanently impaired. Later that year, after the assassination of President Mohammad-Ali Rajai, he was elected Iran’s president and served from 1981 to 1989. After Khomeini’s death in 1989, he was elevated by the Assembly of Experts to succeed his former mentor as Supreme Leader—a position from which he would dominate Iran’s political, military, and ideological direction for the next three and a half decades. The 1981 attack, his presidency, and his 1989 elevation are all points that should be sourced directly.

As Supreme Leader, Khamenei’s rule unfolded........

© The National Interest