The body tasked with choosing Iran’s next supreme leader has reached a decision, several hardline members said, without revealing the name of the chosen candidate.
A high-ranking cleric of the 88-member Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Ahmad Alam al-Hoda, was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying: “Elections for the leadership have been held and the leader has been appointed.”
He stated that rumors trying to make it appear that the Assembly of Experts had not yet made a decision were “pure lies”.
Al-Hoda said it was now up to the Assembly Secretariat, headed by Ayatollah Hosseini Bushehri, to announce the decision.
Ayatollah Heidari, also a member of the Assembly, said the “best” option, approved by the majority of the Assembly of Experts, was chosen, according to the semi-official news agency ISNA.
“Notably, even ‘Great Satan’ referred to the name of the individual chosen by the representatives,” Heidari added.
Hard-line clergy often refer to the United States as the “Great Satan.” Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said it would be unacceptable for Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, to succeed him.
Ali Khamenei was killed in an Israeli airstrike eight days ago.
