Ayatollah Alireza Arafi met the Pope in Rome, speaks English – and is a real hardliner. He is considered the favorite, but he has strong competitors.
Mar 2, 2026, 7:57 p.mMar 2, 2026, 7:57 p.m
Thomas Seibert, Istanbul / ch media
Ayatollah Alireza Arafi is considered a hardliner.Image: x
Alireza Arafi has persistently worked his way up the hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Iran – now the 67-year-old Ayatollah is the most promising candidate to succeed revolutionary leader Ali Khamenei, his previous mentor. In the highest state office, the hardliner Arafi would be faced with the task of leading the theocratic system out of the worst crisis of its existence.
The regime is under attack by Israel and the USA, has lost many political and military leaders and lost the support of many Iranians. Arafi could become the gravedigger of the regime to which he owes his career.
Arafi is vice-chairman of the so-called Council of Experts, an 88-member body that is supposed to elect the new revolutionary leader, and also sits on the 12-member Guardian Council, which examines candidates for parliamentary and presidential elections for their loyalty to the line. These positions and the fact that Khamenei thought highly of him put him at the center of power after the death of the 86-year-old regime leader.
According to the constitution, after the death of the revolutionary leader, a member of the Guardian Council, together with the president and the head of the judiciary, forms a transitional council that governs the country until a new election of the regime head. Massud Peseschkian as president and head of justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei were set. The fact that the Guardian Council sent Arafi as its representative to the council increases his chances of becoming revolutionary leader.
Specialist in Islamic Law
Arafi comes from the central Iranian province of Yazd. His father is said to have been a friend of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni, the founder of the Islamic Republic. Whether this is true is controversial – it could also be a legend intended to underline Arafi’s closeness to the Islamic elite, as Iran expert Alex Vatanka from the Middle East Institute in Washington once wrote.
Arafi began Islamic studies as a child in the city of Qom, a center of the Shiite clergy. He specialized in Islamic law and achieved the rank of mujtahid, a senior legal scholar with the authority to develop his own legal interpretations. When Khamenei took office as revolutionary leader after Khomeini’s death in 1989, Arafi’s rise began.
Khamenei elevated Arafi to ever higher positions. Among them was the position of rector of the Al-Mustafa International University in Qom, which trains foreign students to become Shiite clerics. According to expert Vatanka, Arafi is one of a small group of younger clerics who were promoted by Khamenei because he trusted them to continue his conservative vision for the Islamic Republic and export their ideology to other countries.
Khamenei later entrusted his protégé with supervision of all spiritual seminaries in Iran. In this capacity, Arafi visited the then Pope Francis in Rome four years ago.
In addition to Persian, Arafi also speaks Arabic and English. His age makes him a representative of a new generation of top Iranian officials who, unlike Khamenei, were no longer involved in the founding of the new state in 1979. Khamenei appointed Arafi as a member of the Guardian Council in 2019.
Power struggle behind closed doors
Arafi has now started work in the new transitional council with President Peseschkian and the country’s chief judge, Mohseni-Ejei. The triumvirate must share power with other actors. The Revolutionary Guard and politicians like the head of the Iranian Security Council, Ali Larijani, are also involved. It was noticeable that it was Larijani, and not the Transitional Council, who rejected new talks with the USA on Monday for Iran.
Arafi is also not alone in the race for the office of revolutionary leader. Khamenei’s son Moschtaba, justice chief Mohseni-Ejei and Khomeini’s grandson Hassan are named as competitors. If Arafi succeeds his mentor Khamenei, his first task will be to ensure the survival of the Islamist state.
Iran’s justice chief Mohseni-Ejei.Image: www.imago-images.de
The war and the huge domestic political resistance against the regime would not be the only obstacles. Unlike Khamenei, who ruled for 37 years and was able to build loyal networks, Arafi would first have to cultivate a following within the regime.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the slain Ayatollah, is also in the running.Image: keystone
According to the constitution, the election of the new regime leader should take place “as quickly as possible”. As long as the war continues, it will be difficult to organize the meeting without drawing Israeli-American air strikes on the 88 members of the Council of Experts. (aargauerzeitung.ch)