“Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death could be the most existential threat to Iran’s Islamist regime in its nearly 50 years. But it doesn’t necessarily mean a quick end to the theocracy that controls the country,” Politico reports.
“While Iran has an elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian, real power has rested with its supreme leader. The current regime has only seen one other power shift of this magnitude — following the 1989 death of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.”
“Khamenei’s death on Saturday, which Iranian state media confirmed, leaves no obvious successor.”
New York Times: “Iran’s top national security official said that an interim council would be formed on Sunday to rule the country after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, was assassinated in an Israeli strike.”
CNBC: “Iran has named senior cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to its interim Leadership Council following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.”
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