Iran’s Assembly of Experts says consensus reached on Khamenei’s successor

Officials say a ⁠candidate has been picked, based ⁠on the late supreme leader’s advice that his replacement should ‘be hated by the enemy’.Published On 8 Mar 2026The ⁠clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader, following the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ⁠has reached a majority consensus, according to Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammad-Mahdi Mirbagheri.Iran’s Mehr news agency on Sunday quoted him as saying “some obstacles” still needed to be resolved regarding the process.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Iran oil facilities hit for first time as war with US-Israel enters day 9list 2 of 4Iran war: What is happening on day nine of US-Israel attacks?list 3 of 4Trump says he must be ‘involved’ in choosing Iran’s next supreme leaderlist 4 of 4‘No popular support’: China warns against government change in Iranend of listUnder the Iranian constitution, it is the 88-member Assembly of Experts that is authorised to choose the country’s supreme leader.Khamenei, who ruled Iran for 37 years, was killed in a United States-Israeli strike on Tehran on February 28, at the outset of the war which has now embroiled much of the Middle East.The ⁠Israeli ⁠military, meanwhile, warned it would pursue every person in the Assembly of Experts who ⁠seeks to appoint ⁠a successor for Khamenei.“We warn all those who intend to participate in the successor selection meeting that we will not hesitate to target you either. This is a warning!” the Israeli military said in Persian in a post on X on Sunday.In a video posted by Fars news agency on Telegram, Mirbagheri said “great efforts to determine the leadership” have been made and that “a decisive and unanimous opinion” has been agreed upon.In a separate Fars interview, another member of the body, Hojjatoleslam Jafari, said he hopes “all Iranian people will be satisfied as soon as possible”.“The delay in electing the third leader is bitter and unwanted for everyone, and there is no alternative, so we should not have bad thoughts about our representatives at this difficult time,” he said.