Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has named three senior clerics as possible successors in case he is killed in the war with Israel, The New York Times reported, citing three Iranian officials familiar with his emergency war plans.
The unprecedented step reflects the seriousness with which the 86-year-old leader views the current threat environment, as Israeli airstrikes continue to target Iranian military and nuclear assets.
Khamenei, who is now operating from a secure underground location and communicating through a trusted aide, has also named backups for key military positions in case more senior commanders are killed, the NYT cited the officials as saying.
“Ayatollah Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, also a cleric and close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, who was rumored to be a front-runner, is not among the candidates,” the report said.
The identity of the three clerics has not been disclosed, but the move is seen as an effort to ensure a swift and orderly succession via the Assembly of Experts if the supreme leader is assassinated or dies unexpectedly.
As Iran International previously reported, Khamenei was relocated to an underground bunker in Lavizan, northeast Tehran, shortly after the airstrikes began. His close family, including Mojtaba, are also at the facility. The transfer followed internal assessments of vulnerability at top levels of Iran’s leadership.
In a separate report, Iran International learned that Khamenei has delegated key powers to the Supreme Council of the Revolutionary Guards in what officials described as a wartime precaution, allowing critical decisions to proceed should the Supreme Leader become incapacitated.
