Assembly of Experts

The Assembly of Experts is an 88-member clerical body constitutionally empowered to appoint, supervise and remove Iran's Supreme Leader. Members must hold the rank of mujtahid (qualified to issue independent religious rulings) and are elected by popular vote for eight-year terms, though all candidates are pre-vetted by The Guardian Council, which filters out reformist or insufficiently loyal nominees before ballots are cast. In practice, the Assembly has never exercised its supervisory or removal powers in four decades; its constitutional mandate as an independent check on supreme authority exists on paper but has never functioned as one.

The Assembly's only prior Supreme Leader succession was naming Ali Khamenei in 1989 after Ayatollah Khomeini's death, a precedent the 2026 appointment deliberately echoed in form while departing from it in every substantive respect. The 7 March 2026 session was conducted online in emergency conditions after the Assembly's Qom headquarters was destroyed in the opening strikes; the IRGC pre-pledged 'complete obedience and self-sacrifice' to Mojtaba Khamenei before deliberations closed, converting the Assembly's vote into a ratification of a decision already taken. At least eight members boycotted under protest at both the IRGC pressure and Mojtaba's absence of marja theological credentials, the rank Article 109 constitutionally requires (the only institutional dissent the process produced).

The legitimacy question the Assembly's procedure created has deepened with each passing week. Mojtaba has not appeared publicly since 8 March; by 14 May IRIB attributed 'new and decisive directives' to him with no confirming broadcast or authenticated communication. On 2 June 2026, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified under oath that Khamenei is 'probably still alive' and 'increasingly engaging at some level', framing the Assembly's choice in terms that would have been unthinkable for any previous Supreme Leader selection. The Soufan Center noted on 1 June that his exact decision-making authority remains unclear. On 1 July the Assembly issued a statement rejecting the emerging Doha framework, a stance echoed shortly after by Qom seminary, giving Tehran's negotiators clerical cover for their public denial of any meeting with US officials. Whether the Assembly appointed a functioning Supreme Leader or ratified a governance fiction now depends on evidence neither the Assembly nor the IRGC will supply.