Senior cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arafi will take over as Iran’s interim Supreme Leader following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on Tehran, according to a report by the state-linked ISNA news agency.
After Khamenei’s death, Iran invoked Article 111 of its Constitution, which provides for an emergency arrangement in the absence of the Supreme Leader. Under this provision, a three-member council temporarily assumes the powers of the country’s highest authority until a permanent successor is appointed.
Arafi has been named the jurist member of the interim council, a position drawn from the Guardian Council as mandated by the Constitution. His appointment completes the three-member body that will exercise the Supreme Leader’s authority during the transition.
Under this mechanism, Arafi will jointly lead the country along with President Masoud Pezeshkian and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i. Together, the trio now holds powers that were previously vested solely in Khamenei, as Iran navigates an unprecedented leadership crisis.
However, as the only cleric in a system traditionally headed by a religious Supreme Leader, Arafi is widely seen as the senior-most figure within the interim arrangement.
Born in 1959, the 67-year-old cleric is a prominent figure in Iran’s religious establishment. Prior to this development, he headed the country’s network of Islamic seminaries, served as a clerical member of the Guardian Council, and was part of the Assembly of Experts — the body responsible for appointing the Supreme Leader.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has also undergone a leadership change. Its commander-in-chief, General Mohammad Pakpour, was killed in the strikes, and Ahmad Vahidi has been appointed as the new chief, Iranian state media reported.
The IRGC remains one of the most powerful institutions in Iran, wielding significant military, political and economic influence, and functioning independently of the regular armed forces.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, who had led Iran since 1989, was killed in what officials described as a large-scale US-Israeli military operation targeting key military installations, government facilities and senior leadership locations in Tehran.
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were among the first to publicly announce Khamenei’s death. Iran initially dismissed the reports but confirmed the killing on Sunday morning (IST).
The country now faces a period of deep uncertainty as it contends with both external military pressure and a historic leadership transition.