Iran's Khamenei making preparations for successor, US news report says
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has apparently taken precautions in case of an assassination attempt against him, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
Citing unnamed Iranian officials, the Times reported that Iran's top religious and secular leader has named three possible successors should he be killed by Israel.
Even before the current armed hostilities between Iran and Israel, there was speculation about who might one day replace the 86-year-old head of state.
In Iran, the succession process is actually clearly regulated: the so-called Council of Experts, comprising 88 Islamic jurists and clerics, meets in the event of the death of the leader to determine the successor.
According to the constitution, Khamenei is the spiritual and secular head of state. The cleric is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces and has the final say in all matters.
'Like other components of the Iranian state, the council is highly institutionalised and designed to achieve consensus, partly in order to cushion the Islamic Republic from shocks,' according to an article on the online portal Amwaj.
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