Iran’s clerical regime now faces the prospect of trying to find a successor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following his killing in joint US-Israeli strikes.
The veteran leader, who ruled with an iron fist for nearly four decades, does not have an officially declared heir. Instead, it is now a job for an elected body of 88 senior clerics, known as the Assembly of Experts, to select the next leader.
It’s a task that has only been carried out by the clerical body once since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979, when Khamenei was hastily chosen on the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini more than three decades ago.
The ruling establishment will want to…