Iranian religious power chooses its representative in the figure of the vice president of the Assembly of Experts
Cleric Alireza Arafi has been chosen to complete the final position on Iran’s Leadership Council, the transitional triumvirate formed with the country’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, to temporarily fill the void left by the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in anticipation of the upcoming election of a successor.
Arafi appears, at first glance, to be detached from the Iranian leadership and its security apparatus, but in reality, he is deeply involved in the daily workings of the clerical establishment.
The 67-year-old cleric is the second vice president of the Assembly of Experts (the deliberative body that elects the supreme leader) and has been a member of the powerful Guardian Council, which reviews electoral candidates and laws passed by Parliament. He also serves as president of the Islamic Seminaries of Iran. In 2022, he was granted a private audience with Pope Francis.
The Iranian government has wasted no time in rebuilding its leadership amidst the ongoing joint US-Israeli operations against the country.
It is worth recalling that this past Saturday, along with Khamenei and some of his family, Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi was killed; The commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohamad Pakpur, the Minister of Defense, Aziz Nasirzadeh, military advisor to the Supreme Leader and secretary of the Iranian Defense Council, Ali Shamkhani, and General Golamreza Rezaian, head of the Iranian Police Intelligence Services (FARAJA).
