Sheltering in a bunker, Iran's supreme leader names potential successors
Khamenei has taken an extraordinary series of steps to preserve the Islamic Republic ever since Israel launched a series of surprise attacks last Friday. Although only a week old, the Israeli strikes are the biggest military assault on Iran since its war with Iraq in the 1980s.
Iran appears to have overcome its initial shock, reorganizing enough to launch daily counterstrikes of its own on Israel. Iran's top officials are also quietly making preparations for a wide range of outcomes as the war intensifies and as President Donald Trump considers whether to enter the fight.
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Peering inside Iran's closely guarded leadership can be difficult, but its chain of command still seems to be functioning, despite being hit hard, and there are no obvious signs of dissent in the political ranks.
Khamenei, 86, is aware that either Israel or the United States could try to assassinate him. Given the possibility, the ayatollah has made the unusual decision to instruct his nation's Assembly of Experts, the clerical body responsible for appointing the supreme leader, to choose his successor swiftly from the three names he has provided.
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Normally, the process of appointing a new supreme leader could take months, with clerics picking and choosing from their own lists of names. But with the nation now at war, the ayatollah wants to ensure a quick, orderly transition and to preserve his legacy.
'The top priority is the preservation of the state,' said Vali Nasr, an Iran expert and professor of international affairs at Johns Hopkins University.
This article originally appeared in
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