The Ayatollah is dead – what is next for Iran’s leadership
A protester holds a portrait of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the U.S. embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.
(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
(AP) – A council has formed to govern Iran after the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
That council is enshrined in law in the Islamic Republic. It is made up of Iran’s sitting president, the head of the country’s judiciary and a member of the Guardian Council chosen by Iran’s Expediency Council, which advises the supreme leader and settles disputes with parliament.
Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei are on it.
Iranian law says the Assembly of Experts “must, as soon as possible,” pick a new supreme leader.
RELATED: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who led the Islamic Republic since 1989, is dead at 86
RELATED: Trump was once wary of ordering regime change in Iran. Here’s what made him change his mind
