Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council elected Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to an interim leadership body on Sunday, stepping in to guide the Islamic Republic following the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in joint United States and Israeli airstrikes the previous day. The move came as Iranian forces unleashed a barrage of missiles and drones targeting US bases and Israeli territory, escalating a conflict that has already drawn in Gulf states and raised alarms across the Middle East.
The interim council, comprising Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian, and the head of the judiciary, will oversee state affairs until the Assembly of Experts selects a permanent supreme leader, according to a statement from Expediency Council spokesman Mohsen Dehnavi posted on X. “The Expediency Discernment Council has elected Ayatollah Alireza Arafi as a member of the interim leadership council,” Dehnavi wrote, adding that the body would lead the country until the Assembly of Experts “elects a permanent leader as soon as possible.”
Arafi, a 67-year-old cleric born in 1959 in Meybod, Yazd Province, emerges from Iran’s deeply entrenched religious establishment. He has served as a member of the Guardian Council since 2019, vetting laws and election candidates, and joined the Assembly of Experts in 2022, the body responsible for appointing and supervising the supreme leader. Previously, Arafi headed Al-Mustafa International University from 2009 to 2018, an institution focused on exporting Shia scholarship globally, and led Iran’s national network of Islamic seminaries. His family ties to the revolution run deep; his father, Mohammad Ibrahim Arafi, was a close associate of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. Arafi’s career reflects a steady ascent within the system, marked by appointments from Khamenei, positioning him as a trusted figure in the clerical hierarchy.
The appointment underscores the Islamic Republic’s constitutional mechanisms for leadership continuity, established after the 1979 revolution that overthrew the Pahlavi monarchy and installed a theocratic system blending Shia jurisprudence with republican elements. The supreme leader role, created under Khomeini and held by Khamenei since 1989, wields ultimate authority over foreign policy, the military, and the judiciary. Succession processes were formalized in the 1989 constitutional revisions, empowering the 88-member Assembly of Experts—elected every eight years and composed of clerics vetted by the Guardian Council—to select a new leader. In cases of sudden vacancy, Article 111 mandates an interim council to assume duties temporarily, drawing one member from the Guardian Council or a similar clerical body. This framework draws from historical precedents in Shia governance, where religious scholars have mediated power vacuums since the occultation of the 12th Imam in the 9th century, evolving in modern Iran to balance revolutionary ideology with pragmatic statecraft.
Khamenei’s death, confirmed by Iranian state media on Sunday, followed US and Israeli claims of successful strikes on Saturday targeting Iranian sites, including leadership compounds. The attacks ignited immediate retaliation, with Iran’s clerical leaders vowing swift vengeance. President Pezeshkian described Khamenei’s killing as a “declaration of war against Muslims” in a public statement, asserting that avenging it was Iran’s “legitimate right and duty.” Security chief Ali Larijani, a veteran politician and former speaker of parliament from 2008 to 2020, echoed this, pledging to strike the US and Israel “with a force never seen before.” Larijani, appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council in 2025, has long navigated Iran’s internal factions and foreign relations, including as chief nuclear negotiator from 2005 to 2007.
Iran’s army reported launching airstrikes on US bases in Iraq’s Kurdistan region and Persian Gulf countries shortly after the initial attacks. “A few minutes ago, pilots of the air forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran successfully bombed US bases in the countries of the Persian Gulf and in the Kurdistan region of Iraq over several phases of operations,” the army stated in a broadcast on state TV. These actions reflect Iran’s strategy of asymmetric warfare, honed through decades of tensions with the US and Israel, including support for proxy groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis.
The strikes prompted air raid sirens and explosions in Jerusalem, as the Israeli military detected incoming missiles from Iran. AFP correspondents reported blasts in Dubai, east of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, across Bahrain’s capital Manama, and in Qatar, with thick black smoke rising south of Doha. A senior Emirati official warned Iran that “your war is not with your neighbours” and labeled retaliation against Gulf states a “miscalculation,” according to public statements.
The conflict’s ripple effects extended beyond immediate military exchanges. OPEC+ announced hikes in oil production quotas in response to the Middle East strikes, aiming to stabilize global supplies amid disruptions. European Union officials noted that Khamenei’s killing brings “both hope and instability,” highlighting mixed reactions in Western capitals to the fall of a leader who shaped Iran’s defiant posture since succeeding Khomeini.
This escalation roots in a history of antagonism dating to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Iran severed ties with the US after the embassy hostage crisis and adopted an anti-Israel stance, labeling it the “Little Satan” alongside America’s “Great Satan.” Tensions intensified in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War, where the US backed Saddam Hussein, and persisted through Iran’s nuclear program disputes. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action briefly eased sanctions but collapsed under US withdrawal in 2018, leading to renewed confrontations, including the 2020 US assassination of General Qasem Soleimani and ongoing proxy conflicts. Israel’s covert operations against Iranian nuclear sites and scientists, coupled with Iran’s support for militant groups attacking Israeli interests, have fueled a shadow war that erupted into open hostilities in 2025 with a 12-day exchange, weakening Iran’s defenses and setting the stage for the current assault.
As strikes continued into Sunday, Israel reported hitting back at Tehran, targeting government and military sites. Iranian state media described the attacks as part of a broader US-Israeli campaign to prevent nuclear weapon development, a charge Tehran denies, insisting its program is peaceful. Casualty figures remain uncertain, with Iranian officials reporting widespread damage but no comprehensive tolls yet. The situation evolves rapidly, with contested reports of infrastructure hits and civilian impacts, underscoring the fragility of regional stability forged through decades of Cold War-era alliances and post-9/11 realignments.
