News reports revealed that "six months ago, the Assembly of Experts for Leadership in Iran removed President Ebrahim Raisi's name from the list of potential successors to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei." Two sources stated that "Raisi's declining popularity, poor management of the country, and the dreadful economic situation resulting from U.S. sanctions led the Assembly of Experts to delete Raisi from the potential successors list about six months ago."
One source mentioned that "influential clerics supporting Ebrahim Raisi exerted strong pressure to reinstate him on this list." Members of the Assembly of Experts, elected last March, held their first session today without the presence of Ebrahim Raisi or Ayatollah Al-Hashem, who both died in a helicopter crash on Sunday in Iran's Azerbaijan province.
The Assembly of Experts consists of 88 deputies chosen from the list approved by the Guardian Council, and its primary mission is to elect the Iranian Supreme Leader. The current session, the sixth, holds significant importance regarding the selection of a successor to the current leader, who is 85 years old. It is noted that the term lasts for eight years.
Ali Vaez, director of the "Iran Project" at the International Crisis Group, stated: "No one, except for a few senior officials, likely knows how accurate the narrative pointing to Ebrahim Raisi as the successor is." He added, "But if this plan exists, the president's (Ebrahim Raisi) death would create substantial ambiguity regarding the selection of the successor."
On his part, Alex Vatankhah, director of the "Iran Program" at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said: "Many believe that Khamenei's role in supporting Ebrahim Raisi (his victory in the presidential elections) was a sign that he wanted him to be his successor." Vatankhah further commented that the death of Ebrahim Raisi "could lead to internal conflicts within the system, unlike what we saw in the early 1980s," referring to the death of founding leader Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 and the easy selection of Ali Khamenei as his deputy.
