Tehran, Iran. Two influential Iranian clerics have called for the swift selection of a new supreme leader to guide the country amid a new wave of U.S. and Israeli strikes, Iranian media reported on Saturday.
Calls to accelerate succession
Iranian media said the calls suggest some within the clerical establishment are uncomfortable with leaving a three-man council in charge, even temporarily under constitutional rules, after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Naser Makarem Shirazi, a grand ayatollah, said an appointment was needed swiftly to help “better organise the country’s affairs,” state media reported.
Religious decrees and calls for retaliation
Last week, two senior Shi’ite religious authorities issued fatwas calling on Muslims around the world to avenge Khamenei’s killing. Makarem Shirazi said it was a religious duty for Muslims “until the evil of these criminals is eradicated from the world.”
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani urged members of the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body charged with choosing the new leader, to accelerate the process of picking Khamenei’s successor, state media reported.
Constitutional process and interim leadership
Under Iran’s constitution, a three-man council comprising the president, a senior cleric and the head of the judiciary has taken on the supreme leader’s role until the Assembly of Experts decides.
The constitution states a supreme leader should be chosen within three months, although with war raging it is not immediately clear how quickly the 88-member Assembly of Experts can convene. Sources have said some clerics have held consultations online.
U.S. position
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States should have a role in choosing the new leader, a demand Iran has rejected.
What do you think the Assembly of Experts should prioritise as it moves to select Iran’s next supreme leader?
