Hashemi: A Group Has Been Designated to Consider the Selection of the Future Leader

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, stated in an interview with ILNA news agency that a group has currently been designated to consider the selection of leadership "in case of an incident." In this interview, published on Sunday, December 13, he referred to the duties of the Assembly of Experts, saying, "Whenever it is decided that leadership should change or not, and someone else comes, they must perform significant work again." He added, "Of course, they are preparing and studying, and a group has been set up to review individuals to identify those who are qualified to be presented for voting if events occur later. This is primarily the work of the Experts Assembly." According to Articles 107 and 111 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, the selection and dismissal of the leader is the responsibility of the Assembly of Experts. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has spoken several times about the "future leadership" in Iran in the past year and suggested that forming a multi-member council might be beneficial. In February of last year, he also mentioned in an interview with the Islamic Republic newspaper regarding the appointment of a successor for Ali Khamenei: "If the Experts perform their duties correctly, they can certainly form a council in the absence of a suitable individual. Because the law allows for councils as well." The head of the Expediency Discernment Council emphasized in his interview with ILNA that "leadership belongs to everyone, and is the father of the entire community, meaning Muslims, non-Muslims, left and right, and the authority that determines them should belong to all, and the more diverse the body of the Experts, the higher the credibility of the leadership." Ali Khamenei, the current leader of the Islamic Republic, will be 77 years old when the next term of the Assembly of Experts begins. Since June 4, 1989, when Ali Khamenei was elected by the Assembly of Experts to succeed Ayatollah Khomeini, rumors about his health have circulated, and last year his hospitalization for surgery was reported. Previously, Ghorbanali Dorri Najafabadi, a member of the Assembly of Experts, had said, "May God preserve the leadership and grant him a long life, but we must think about what comes after him." The Assembly of Experts, responsible for determining the future leader, will hold its fifth election on March 7 this year. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani announced earlier this month his potential candidacy for the upcoming Assembly of Experts elections. Months after Hassan Rouhani's government began, Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council and a member of the Assembly of Experts, warned: "Those who have taken the first stronghold are seeking to seize the Assembly of Experts and the Islamic Consultative Assembly." Hashemi Rafsanjani emphasized in his interview that "leadership belongs to everyone, and the father of the entire community, meaning Muslims, non-Muslims, left and right, and the authority that determines them should belong to all, and the more diverse the body of the Experts, the higher the credibility of the leadership."