In the aftermath of the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and 40 senior officials, Iran is currently being governed by a temporary council composed of three officials with diverse political ideologies. This unprecedented event has left a significant power void in the country, with the world closely watching how the situation unfolds.
Amid the instability, Ali Larijani, Iran’s prominent nuclear and security official known for his harsh measures against recent anti-regime demonstrations, is reportedly positioned to become the nation’s most influential figure once the turmoil subsides.
Interestingly, Larijani is not part of the interim council steering the nation through these turbulent times.
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According to CNN, the three-member council was established on Sunday, as mandated by Iran’s constitution, to oversee the country until the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body, convenes to appoint a new supreme leader.
The current leadership comprises Masoud Pezeshkian, a president with moderate tendencies, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, the conservative chief supreme court justice, and Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, a member of the Guardian Council responsible for ensuring laws and officials adhere to strict Islamic principles.
Below is more of the nation’s current leaders, and the man who could supplant them in the coming days:
President Masoud Pezeshkian
Pezeshkian is considered to be a moderate leader after being elected president as a reformist in 2024.
He is a former heart surgeon and veteran of the 1980 Iran-Iraq War, according to Al Jazeera, and also served as Iran’s health minister and then a parliament member beginning in 2005.
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Pezeshkian was elected president with a campaign based on social, political and economic reform, and framed himself as the man who would be able to convince the US into lifting crippling sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the Wall Street Journal reported.
But Pezeshkian — who was initially rumored to be one of the dozens of top officials killed in the Saturday strike on Tehran — responded with a virulent message to the west after Khamenei’s death, saying Iran has a “legitimate duty and right to avenge the perpetrators and masterminds of this historic crime.”
Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei
Mohseni-Ejei was appointed to lead Iran’s supreme court by Khamenei himself in 2021 after a career of backing the dead supreme leader’s aggressive and oppressive policies.
He was intelligence minister from 2005 and 2006, then Iran’s prosecutor general, and also pushed for the harshest possible punishments for protesters who took to the streets against the Iranian regime earlier this year.
Mohseni-Ejei also accused President Trump and Israel of fomenting those protests — which left thousands of demonstrators dead on the orders of Khamenei’s government.
Ayatollah Alireza Arafi
Arafi sits on Iran’s Guardian Council, which is tasked with reviewing all parliamentary legislation to make sure it meets the demands of sharia law.
He has served since 2019 with the 12-person council, which also vets and vetoes candidates for government officials based on their adherence to oppressive and extreme Islamic principles — notably barring all women from the ballot in Iran’s 2021 presidential election.
Arafi is considered a top contender for succeeding Khamenei, CNN reported.
Ali Larijani
Larijani was appointed in August as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, which is charged with organizing the nation’s defense policies, and has made himself Iran’s top man for dealing with its nuclear weaponry ambitions.
The longtime politician’s career has been marked by devoted loyalty to Khamenei, as well as an ability to spin negotiations with rivals to serve the now-deceased supreme leader’s agenda, according to the Times of Israel.
He even voiced a pragmatic approach when discussing nuclear negotiations with the US in January — less than a year after American forces bombed Iran’s nuclear research facilities in June — calling the issue “resolvable” in a television interview.
“If the Americans’ concern is that Iran should not move toward acquiring a nuclear weapon, that can be addressed,” he said, according to the Times of Israel.
But Larijani’s true hardline politics were exposed earlier this year after thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest the Khamenei regime’s oppression. The US accused him of being one of the loudest voices calling for the violent crackdown that left thousands of demonstrators killed and imprisoned.
“Larijani was one of the first Iranian leaders to call for violence in response to the legitimate demands of the Iranian people,” the US Treasury said in January after sanctions were imposed on him.
And his rhetoric has been fiery since the Saturday attacks across Iran, which the White House said have left its military apparatus crippled and officials scrambling to the negotiating table.
Larijani took to Iranian state television Sunday to blame the US and Israel for trying to destroy Iran — and warned “secessionist groups” within the nation would face severe consequences if they gave in to western demands to submit.
That rhetoric — along with his position as one of Khamenei’s top surviving lieutenants — could position him well to take over the country in the weeks ahead.
