Ayatollah Alireza Arafi has been appointed Iran’s acting Supreme Leader, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA), marking a significant development in the country’s political hierarchy.

His emergence follows his election by the Expediency Discernment Council as the jurist member of the Guardian Council within the constitutionally mandated Leadership Council.

The Leadership Council is tasked with performing the duties of the Supreme Leader on an interim basis pending the selection of a permanent successor by the Assembly of Experts.

Arafi, 67, currently serves on the influential Guardian Council and will now sit on the three-member interim leadership structure.

He joins President Masoud Pezeshkian and Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei on the council, which is legally empowered to oversee the responsibilities of the Supreme Leader during the transition period.