Who Is Ayatollah Alireza Arafi? Iran’s Interim Supreme Leader Explained

Ayatollah Alireza Arafi has been appointed as a jurist member of Iran’s interim Leadership Council following the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by the United States and Israel.

According to Reuters, citing ISNA, the three member council will assume the responsibilities of the Supreme Leader until the Assembly of Experts elects a successor.

Arafi will serve alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei on the temporary body.

“We had prepared for such moments and have plans in place for all scenarios, even for the time after the martyrdom of revered Imam Khamenei,” parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said, according to Sky News.

Who Is Alireza Arafi?

Alireza Arafi was born in 1959 in Meybod town in Yazd province, central Iran. He comes from a clerical family. His father, Mohammad Ibrahim Arafi, was a religious figure who was later portrayed in state media as being close to former Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, according to a report by the Middle East Institute.

In 1969, at the age of 11, Arafi moved to Qom, Iran’s main religious centre, to continue his religious studies. He studied under senior clerics and completed advanced religious training. He earned the rank of mujtahid, which allows independent interpretation of Islamic law. His fields include Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy. He is fluent in Arabic and English and has published books and articles.

During the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Arafi was 21 years old. In the 1980s, he remained among the younger clerics in the newly formed Islamic Republic.

His rise accelerated after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei became Supreme Leader in 1989. In 1992, at the age of 33, Arafi was appointed Friday prayer leader in Meybod. In 2015, he was appointed Friday prayer leader in Qom, a key religious position.

Arafi later became chairman of Al Mustafa International University, an institution established to train non Iranian Shia clerics and promote the Islamic Republic’s ideology abroad. The university was formally established in 2009 after merging earlier initiatives.

In 2016, he was appointed head of Iran’s seminary system nationwide. In 2019, he was appointed to the Guardian Council, a 12 member body that reviews legislation, supervises elections and approves or rejects candidates for public office. The council has the authority to veto laws passed by parliament.

He also serves as a member and deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for choosing and overseeing the Supreme Leader.

In February 2016, Arafi contested a seat in the Assembly of Experts from Tehran but lost. He ran on a hardline list linked to the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom.

Though not widely known outside clerical circles, Arafi is regarded as a significant institutional figure within Iran.