As Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dies in US-Israel strikes, how will Iran elect its next leader? All you need to know about country’s succession process

US-Israel joint Strikes: Following the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian state television said that the Iranian president and two other officials will oversee the country’s transition, news agency AFP reported, citing Iranian state TV.

The power to choose a new supreme leader rests with the Assembly of Experts, a conservative body of clerics who, given Ayatollah Khamenei's age and infirmities, have probably given ample thought to potential successors, according to NYT News Service.

The paramount questions surrounding Iran’s future were raised after Khamenei, who was in power for almost 37 years, was killed in joint strikes carried out by Israel and the United States on Saturday (February 28, 2026).


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Iranian state media reported the death early Sunday, after a major attack launched by Israel and the United States. US President Donald Trump said hours earlier that Khamenei had been killed in the joint operation.

Temporary leadership council assumes duties

According to the Iranian Constitution, the country on Sunday formed a council to assume leadership duties and govern the country.

The council 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, as reported by news agency AP.

Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei are its members who will step in and “temporarily assume all the duties of leadership.”

Panel of clerics selects a new supreme leader

An 88-member panel called the Assembly of Experts “must, as soon as possible," pick a new supreme leader under Iranian law. The panel consists entirely of Shiite clerics who are popularly elected every eight years and whose candidacies are approved by the Guardian Council, Iran’s constitutional watchdog. That body is known for disqualifying candidates in various elections in Iran, and the Assembly of Experts is no different, AP reported.

The Guardian Council barred former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate whose administration struck the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, from election for the Assembly of Experts in March 2024.