Topline

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the country would appoint a new supreme leader in “a day or two,” he told Al Jazeera in an interview, as Iranian regime leaders regroup around a council until a new head of state is chosen after U.S. and Israeli air strikes killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A three-person Leadership Council stepped in after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed.

Anadolu via Getty ImagesKey Facts

In the immediate aftermath of Khamenei’s death, top surviving regime officials appointed a three-person Leadership Council consisting of President Masoud Pezeshkian, Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and Alireza Arafi, a cleric and member of the Guardian Council—the powerful 12-person body that vets political candidates and can veto legislation passed by parliament.

The Leadership Council will step into the role of supreme leader until the next one is chosen.

Iran’s Assembly of Experts, an elected group of 88 clerics whose candidacies were approved by the Guardian Council, will then be tasked with choosing the next supreme leader.

Key Background

Khamenei was killed after Israel and the U.S. launched a series of air strikes early on Saturday morning. The air strikes, named “Operation Epic Fury” by the U.S. military, have killed several Iranian leaders. Khamenei’s death was first announced by Israel, then confirmed by President Donald Trump and the Iranian government hours later. Speaking to ABC News’ “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, Araghchi confirmed that some military leaders were killed in the initial strikes. “Well, we have lost some commanders. That is a fact. But another fact is that nothing has changed in our, you know, military capability,” Araghchi said. The Iranian foreign minister claimed his country’s military was “capable enough to defend our country” and “more prepared and capable” compared to the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran last year.

News Peg

Speaking to a Fox News reporter on Sunday, Trump claimed the strikes have killed at least 48 Iranian leaders. “It’s moving along rapidly,” Trump said in comments posted on X by Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich. “Nobody can believe the success we’re having, 48 leaders are gone in one shot.” The president also told The Atlantic he agreed to talks with the remaining Iranian leaders. “Most of those people are gone. Some of the people we were dealing with are gone, because that was a big—that was a big hit,” he told the magazine.

Crucial Quote

Trump confirmed Khamenei’s death in a post on Truth Social on Saturday, calling him “one of the most evil people in History.” The president urged members of the Iranian military, security forces and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to “peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots, and work together as a unit to bring back the Country to the Greatness it deserves.” Later, Trump raged against reported Iranian plans for military retaliation. “THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE,” he wrote in a subsequent post.

Surprising Fact

This is only the second time Iran’s government has chosen a supreme leader. Khamenei was chosen as supreme leader in August 1989, only about two months after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death. Khomeini emerged as Iran’s first hardline religious leader after the country’s clerics seized power following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy. Khomeini ruled for nine years after the revolution, while Khamenei’s rule lasted 36 years until his death on Saturday.