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International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Politics
Jim Manzon

Who Will Lead Iran After Khamenei's Death? Meet the 5 Candidates Fighting for Supreme Power

Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Ayatollah Khamenei Mojtaba Khamenei Hassan Khomeini Sanam Vakil IRGC Alireza Arafi Ali Shamkhani Leo XIV
(Clockwise, from top left) Mojtaba Khamenei, the late Ayatollah Khamenei, Hassan Khomeini, Sadiq Larijani, Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, and Alireza Arafi.

The 88 clerics who must choose Iran's next supreme leader are scattered across the country, unable to meet. Bombs keep falling.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on 28 February 2026 in a joint US-Israeli strike on his Tehran compound. Iranian state media confirmed his death the following day, declaring 40 days of national mourning. It marked the first assassination of a supreme leader in the Islamic Republic's 47-year history.

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