Prabir Barua :: A member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, which worked with choosing Iran’s next Supreme leader, said it has reached a decision to choose the successor of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but some “obstacles” remain on the way of his appointment.
They have not named the candidate chosen because Israel’s military has threatened to target any successor of Khamenei who was killed on the very first day of US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
One senior cleric in the 88-member Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Ahmad Alam al-Hoda, told semi-official Mehr news agency, “The elections for the leadership have been held and the leader has been appointed.”
He said, rumours claiming that the Assembly of Experts has not yet reached a resolution are “pure lies”.
He said, the Assembly’s Secretariat, led by Ayatollah Hosseini Bushehri, was now to announce the decision.
US President Donald Trump stated earlier this week that it would not accept Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as his successor.
Mojtaba Khamenei and other senior clerics have been the focus of the choosing of a successor of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mojtaba has been heavily involved in the management of his father’s office and is considered a leading contender, with some reports suggesting he was chosen to succeed his father.
The other contenders include Alireza Arafi, confidant of Khamenei and head of Iran’s seminary system. He serves as deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts and a member of the Guardian Council.
Ali Asghar Hejazi, an intelligence and political security chief within Khamenei’s inner circle.
Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ruhollah Mostafavi Musavi Khomeini. Shia cleric Ruhollah Mostafavi Musavi Khomeini served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989.
Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, a senior cleric and first deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military warned that it would kill every successor of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Now, the question comes whoever selected as the Iran’s supreme leader can lead the country as his predecessors or wiped out like Khamenei following the threat of Israel amid this ongoing war.
