Majority consensus reached on Iran's next supreme leader


FILE PHOTO: A woman gestures while holding an image of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the day of an anti-Israeli and U.S. rally, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 6, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo

DUBAI, March 8 (Reuters) - ⁠The clerical body that will choose Iran's next ⁠supreme leader, succeeding the slain Ayatollah Ali ‌Khamenei, has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.

The Mehr news ​agency quoted him as saying "some obstacles" ⁠still needed to be ⁠resolved regarding the process.

On Saturday, a senior cleric in ⁠the ‌Assembly of Experts said its members would meet "within one day" to choose the leader.

Iranian ⁠media said the group had a minor ​disagreement over whether ‌their final decision must follow an in-person meeting ⁠or instead ​be issued without adhering to this formality.

Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, another member of the Assembly of Experts, said ⁠in a video released by ​Nournews on Sunday that an in-person meeting by the assembly for a final vote was not possible under current ⁠conditions.

He said a candidate had been picked, based on the late supreme leader's advice that Iran's top leader should "be hated by the enemy" instead of ​praised by it.

"Even the Great Satan (U.S.) ⁠has mentioned his name," Heidari Alekasir said of the ​chosen successor, days after U.S. ‌President Donald Trump said that ​Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, was an "unacceptable" choice for him.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by William Mallard)

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