Succession in Iran: Who Will Be the Next Supreme Leader?

Since his rise to power, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has survived all rumors of his ill health and death. Most recently, media reports indicated that Khamenei was “gravely ill” and “understood to be on his death bed.” However, he made a sudden reappearance, standing without his usual walking stick, and delivered a seven-minute address to a group of students commemorating a religious holiday.

The 83-year-old Khamenei assumed Iran’s top religious, political, and military authority in 1989 and is the final arbiter on issues like the nuclear deal, which is currently being negotiated with the United States. How is political succession in Iran likely to evolve following his death?

AGSIW hosted this discussion with Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow and the author of Political Succession in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Demise of the Clergy and the Rise of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (2020).

The views represented herein are the author's or speaker's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of AGSI, its staff, or its board of directors.