From Fox News: The Islamic Republic’s opaque and fractured governing system following the killing of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, selected radical cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to its interim leadership council on Saturday.
Ben Sabti, an Iran expert at the Institute of National Security Studies in Israel, said, “His name was brought up in the last two or three years. He is not a kind of politician but is part of exporting the revolution from the propaganda side.” A foundational pillar of the birth of the 1979 Islamic Republic was to export its violent Shiite ideology and foster radical Islamist revolutions across the globe.
“He’s been marinating in Khomeinist ideology his entire career. Khomeinism is a threat to U.S. interests,” Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital.
The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s “Death to America” pledge is a core feature of Khomeinism, according to experts.
In 2019, Arafi led a large audience in a chant of “Death to America! Death to England! Death to Israel!”
Qom Friday Sermon by Ayatollah Alireza Arafi: The Iranian People Support Hassan Nasrallah, Khamenei Until the End, When Israel Will Be Erased pic.twitter.com/tW6RD6xjOB
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 18, 2019
X user @NoLimitGains shared additional details about Arafi in a post Sunday morning:
For the first time in 36 years, Iran has a new face at the top. Ayatollah Alireza Arafi. 67 years old. And most people have never heard his name. Here’s everything you need to know about the man now running Iran:
He’s not doing it alone. Iran formed a 3-person leadership council: Arafi, President Pezeshkian, and Chief Justice Mohseni-Eje’i. They’re splitting Khamenei’s powers between them until the Assembly of Experts picks a permanent Supreme Leader.
But Arafi is the one everyone’s watching. This guy has been quietly stacking power for DECADES. Born in 1959 in the small town of Meybod. His father was reportedly close with Khomeini himself, the original Supreme Leader. He was sent to Qom for religious training at age 11.
By 33, Khamenei personally made him Friday prayer leader. That doesn’t happen unless you’re trusted at the highest levels. He simultaneously held THREE of the most powerful positions in the country:
– Director of Iran’s entire seminary system
– Member of the Guardian Council (the body that vets every law and every candidate)
– Member of the Assembly of Experts (the body that literally picks the Supreme Leader)The man who now temporarily IS the Supreme Leader was already on the committee that CHOOSES the Supreme Leader.
He’s what makes him different.
He speaks fluent English and Arabic. He met Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2022. And he’s been openly pushing for Iran to adopt artificial intelligence to spread its message globally.
He’s being described by Reuters as a “completely trusted loyalist” of the regime. The IRGC sees him as a safe pair of hands.
Some analysts had him on the shortlist to replace Khamenei for YEARS. Now he’s effectively filling that role, at least temporarily. The real question: does the Assembly of Experts make it permanent? Or does someone else emerge?
Take him out too. https://t.co/q4Ot4EBmPj
— Dennis Michael Lynch (@TrustDML) March 1, 2026
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