Oct 27, 2014

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who has been named as a possible successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is being seen as a likely candidate to take over the Assembly of Experts, the body that elects and supervises the supreme leader of Iran, according to Ayatollah Ahmad Katami.

According to Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts and on its board of directors, other possibilities include Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the former head of the judiciary and second deputy chairman of the Assembly; Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, chairman of the Guardian Council; and Ayatollah Ali Movahedi-Kermani, Tehran's temporary Friday prayer leader.

Many Iranian and foreign-based Persian-language websites reported “Shahroudi as candidate for Assembly of Experts,” suggesting they consider him the most likely to take over the position after the death of late chairman Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani Oct. 21.

On the likelihood of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani retaking the position he held from 2007 to 2011, Ahmad Khatami said, “From what I have heard, in some of the meetings, Mr. Rafsanjani has said that he has no desire for the chairmanship.” He said Rafsanjani could change his mind but at the moment, he is not being discussed for the chairmanship in the meetings.

Ahmad Khatami also dismissed his own candidacy, saying, “Foreign [news] networks have presented my name,” but he called the reports “malicious” and rejected some foreign media outlets' portrayal of him as “quickly climbing the stairs of promotion.”