Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, The New York Times reports, citing three Iranian officials familiar with the matter.
Citing the officials, New York Times reported that top officials in Iran are making preparations for a wide range of outcomes if the war intensifies while Trump considers whether to intervene, adding that the regime’s chain of command has been hit hard in Israeli strikes but appears to be functioning.
In the event a supreme leader dies, Iran’s constitution requires the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body, to pick a successor. The process has only been used once since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Khamenei himself was elected in 1989.
Khamenei wants to ensure a quick, orderly transition in the event of his death.
After reportedly rejecting an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei, US President Donald Trump stated this week that Iran’s supreme leader is an “easy target.”
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. “He is an easy target but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not ruled out targeting Khamenei either, saying the death of the supreme leader would not “escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict.”
Earlier on Thursday, Defense Minister Israel Katz went further, declaring that Khamenei cannot be allowed to “continue to exist” after an Iranian missile struck a hospital in Israel.
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