Sune Engel Rasmussen
WSJ, May 20, 2024
“The Iranian leadership never discusses potential successors in public, leaving the question of who will run the country after Khamenei dies a matter of speculation.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s death has dealt an unsettling blow to the country’s politics and raises questions regarding the succession of not just the presidency, but also the most powerful position in the country—that of supreme leader.
Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash over the weekend along with Iran’s foreign minister, was widely seen as a potential successor to the current top figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is 85 and has a history of illness. There is no publicly anointed heir-apparent.
Under Iran’s constitution, new national elections are to be held within 50 days to elect a new president. The vote would come as Iran’s leaders are embroiled in a regional conflict with Israel and facing unrest at home as economic woes intensify discontent with clerical rule.
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