Who’s leading Iran? These 3 men have assumed the reins.
- A three-man council has been formed to temporarily lead Iran while a successor is chosen.
- The council includes President Masoud Pezeshkian, Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei.
- President Pezeshkian has vowed revenge for Khamenei’s death, calling it Iran’s “legitimate right and duty.”
The Feb. 28 killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the joint attack by U.S. and Israeli forces has left a void at the top in the Iranian regime as the embattled nation scrambles to put in place a successor.
The Islamic Republic has only replaced its supreme leader once since it came into power almost 50 years ago. Khamenei succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was killed in 1989 without declaring an official heir.
On March 1, a three-man leadership council was formed to assume power until Khamenei’s successor is selected. Those key figures are Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, and Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, head of Iran’s judiciary.
It’s unclear how long it will take for Iran’s succession plan to play out.
President Donald Trump said he expects the war to last up to six weeks, adding that he’d become bored with a long-running conflict.
Iranian officials say they’re ready for a drawn-out conflict.
“Iran, unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war,” Ali Larijani, a top national security official inside Iran, said on X on March 2, adding the nation would make its “enemies sorry for their miscalculation.”
Here’s a further look at who’s running Iran – for the time being:
Masoud Pezeshkian, reformer, seeks ‘bloodshed and revenge’
Among the three-man council is longtime Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has condemned Khamenei’s killing and vowed on March 1 that “bloodshed and revenge” is Iran’s “legitimate right and duty.”
As talks intensified last month about a possible attack on Iran by Trump, Pezeshkian issued his own rebukes on social media, promising to defend Khamenei.
“Any aggression against the Supreme Leader of our country is tantamount to all-out war against the Iranian nation,” Pezeshkian said in a Jan. 18 translated post on X, according to Radio Free Europe.
Pezeshkian was elected president in 2024 in an upset over Saeed Jalili, Khamenei’s preferred candidate, after the Iranian incumbent president, Ebrahim Raisi, died in a helicopter crash.
Pezeshkian, a physician and reformist candidate, ran his presidential campaign on an agenda of political, social, and economic reform. He also vowed to re-engage in discussions with the United States to end sanctions. His administration’s nuclear talks with U.S. officials never led to a deal.
“He has been a major disappointment in the year and a half he’s been in office,” Alex Vantanka, a senior fellow specializing in Iranian politics for the Middle East Institute, told USA TODAY on March 2. “And he still doesn’t have a message to convey.”
As president, Pezeshkian is a mandated member of the interim council based on Iran’s constitution, Vantanka said.
Trump said in his State of the Union address on Feb. 24 that Iran was developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that could soon reach the United States. U.S. officials had been negotiating with Iran in hopes of striking a deal that would avoid military confrontation.
However, a third round of indirect talks ended on Feb. 26 without a significant breakthrough. Negotiators for both countries were expected to meet again before the Feb. 28 joint attacks by the United States and Israel that killed Khamenei and other Iranian leaders.
Pezeshkian said on social media on March 1 that out of respect to Khamenei, the “fiery martyrdom of the wise Leader of the Islamic Revolution” will remain with the Iranian nation for many years to come.
“The crime of the criminals and the martyrdom of Iran’s dear ones will not create any hindrance in the determination of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to fulfill its duties and responsibilities,” Pezeshkian said in a translated post on X. “We remain steadfast in pursuing the path of Iran’s pride, independence, and glory.”
Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, shaped and groomed by Khamenei, is one to watch
Another member of the interim leadership council is Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, who is also a potential candidate to succeed Khamenei, Vantanka told USA TODAY.
“Watch this man, he could be Iran’s next leader,” Vantanka also posted on X on March 1.
Arafi is also a member of Iran’s Guardian Council, an Islamic legal authority that reviews Iran’s laws and policies to ensure they conform to Islamic principles.
“Outside of clerical circles in Iran, the name of Alireza Arafi is hardly well known, but he deserves more attention,” Vantanka said in his 2020 profile of the leader. “(Arafi’s) entire career has been shaped by appointments given to him by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In fact, Arafi may even be a candidate to succeed Khamenei when the day comes.”
Arafi’s rise to power came soon after Khamenei became Iran’s supreme leader in 1989, Vantanka told USA TODAY. Arafi is a prominent Iranian cleric from Meybod, Yazd province, and leads Friday prayers in Qom, Iran’s most important religious center, Vantanka wrote.
Arafi also heads Iran’s seminary system, overseeing education for religious leaders nationwide, Vantanka added.
In addition, Arafi serves as the deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, a body responsible for overseeing the selection of the supreme leader, according to Radio Free Europe. Arafi joined that body in 2022, Vantanka noted.
“(Arafi) comes from an administrative background, not so much security-focused. He’s connected, but he’s not the guy who will come cracking down on people. Others will handle that,” Vantanka said. “He’s very spiritual, and he’s risen through the clerical world.
“He is somebody whom Khamenei shaped, groomed, and rose year after year from obscurity, putting this guy in various important positions of power,” Vantanka added. “He could very well be the next supreme leader, no doubt about it.”
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, hardliner from Iran’s conservative wing
The final member of the trio is Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, a senior religious leader appointed by Khamenei in 2021 as Iran’s Head of the Judiciary.
Mohseni-Ejei served as intelligence minister from 2005 to 2009 and later as prosecutor-general and first deputy chief justice. He is seen as a staunch supporter in Iran’s conservative wing.
“He’s a hard-liner, he’s been a part of the system since he was a teenager, and he has close ties not just to the judiciary he oversees, which is very powerful,” Vantanka said. “(Mohseni-Ejei) is definitely an insider with connections across the board” in the Iranian government.
In January, Mohseni-Ejei reportedly took strong exception to protests in the country after Trump warned in December that Iran would “get hit very hard” by the United States if Iranian authorities killed more demonstrators.
Mohseni-Ejei promised “no leniency” towards those he referred to as “rioters.”
Last month, Hadi Ghaemi, founder and executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), posted on X that “The end of the Islamic Republic must come with the help of the entire international community.”
In 2021, the CHRI said Mohseni-Ejei’s appointment as Iran’s judiciary chief posed a grave danger to Iranian activists.
“Ejei’s appointment is an obvious threat to Iran’s civil society, considering his considerable role in suppressing popular protests and fabricating cases against human rights and political activists,” Ghaemi said. “It shows the Islamic Republic, more than ever, is using all arms of the state to crush (protests) and confront political and civil rights activists.”
