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Iran has entered a moment of historic uncertainty following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering an urgent transition process and intensifying questions about the country’s political future and regional stability.
Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a longtime adviser to Khamenei, announced that the constitutional succession mechanism is already underway. Speaking on Iranian state television, Larijani said a temporary leadership council will be formed immediately, composed of the president, the head of the judiciary, and a jurist from the Guardian Council. This body will govern until the Assembly of Experts selects a new supreme leader.
“We are already working on its creation starting today,” Larijani stressed, while warning that any attempts to exploit the moment to divide the country “will not be tolerated.” He called on Iranians to maintain unity during what is likely to be the most delicate political transition since 1989.
Notably, when news of Khamenei’s death first emerged, it was reported by Israeli and American sources. Iranian authorities have now confirmed the death, ending hours of speculation and signaling that Tehran is preparing to manage the aftermath domestically and internationally.
From clerical obscurity to absolute power
Ali Khamenei’s life traced the arc of the Islamic Republic itself. Born in 1939 into a deeply religious but modest family, he cultivated early interests in literature and poetry, reportedly admiring Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. His political destiny took shape in the holy city of Qom, where he became a devoted follower of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Under the Shah, Khamenei was arrested six times by the SAVAK secret police and subjected to torture, experiences that hardened his worldview and entrenched his hostility toward the West. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, he rose steadily through the new system.
A defining moment came in 1981 when he survived an assassination attempt involving a bomb hidden in a tape recorder. The explosion permanently paralyzed his right arm, a physical mark that later became part of his revolutionary image.
His true ascent came in June 1989. After Khomeini’s death, the Assembly of Experts faced a leadership vacuum. Despite lacking the highest clerical credentials, Khamenei was elevated to supreme leader in a dramatic political maneuver reportedly backed by the influential Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Within hours, the relatively moderate president became the ultimate authority in Iran.
Over the next three and a half decades, Khamenei methodically consolidated power. He expanded the political and economic reach of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), transforming it into the regime’s most powerful instrument at home and abroad. Under his watch, Iran built what it called the “axis of resistance,” extending influence from Lebanon to Yemen.
A rule marked by repression
Khamenei’s tenure was also defined by severe repression of dissent. Human rights organizations repeatedly documented systematic abuses in Iranian prisons, including prolonged solitary confinement, forced confessions, and corporal punishment.
Survivor testimonies from Evin Prison described the use of so-called “white torture,” a form of sensory deprivation designed to psychologically break detainees. Reports by groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch over the years alleged widespread use of flogging, stress positions, and rapid trials that often ended in executions on charges such as “enmity against God.”
Key judicial figures, including former president Ebrahim Raisi and current judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, were long associated by rights groups with the system that enforced these policies.
The strike that killed him
According to reporting by The New York Times, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had been monitoring Khamenei’s movements for months and had developed high confidence in both his residence and daily patterns.
Intelligence indicated that the supreme leader would attend a high-level meeting of Iranian officials Saturday morning in central Tehran. The information was shared with Israel, and the two countries adjusted the timing of their operation to exploit the opportunity.
The original plan reportedly called for a nighttime strike, but the attack was ultimately launched at 09:40 local time using long-range air-to-surface missiles. Khamenei and several senior officials were killed in the strike.
Iranian officials have now acknowledged his death, even as they move quickly to project continuity of governance.
A dangerous power vacuum
The succession battle now unfolding could reshape the Islamic Republic.
The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)
More than a military force, the Guards control vast sectors of Iran’s economy and security apparatus. Analysts believe senior commanders will push strongly for a hardline successor who protects their interests and maintains confrontation with the West.
The Assembly of Experts
The 88-member clerical body constitutionally tasked with choosing the next supreme leader is expected to meet under intense secrecy. Reports already point to a divide between hardliners seeking an uncompromising figure and pragmatists worried about internal unrest and external pressure.
Mojtaba Khamenei
The late leader’s son remains one of the most closely watched figures. Though he holds no formal constitutional role, he is believed to wield significant influence within intelligence and Basij networks. His potential rise raises sensitive questions about dynastic succession in a revolution that originally rejected monarchy.
The street
Beyond elite maneuvering, the public mood may prove decisive. The “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, brutally suppressed in recent years, could view the leadership transition as a rare opening for renewed protests.
What comes next
For now, Tehran is focused on projecting control: forming the interim council, containing internal fractures, and deterring external adversaries. But the death of the man who ruled Iran for nearly four decades removes the central pillar of the Islamic Republic’s political architecture.
With information from NYT, AFP, Reuters, AMNA, and Kathimerini Greece.
