2026 Iranian supreme leader election

An election for the third supreme leader of Iran by the Assembly of Experts was held from 3 to 8 March 2026, following the assassination of Ali Khamenei on 28 February during the 2026 Iran war. Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei, was announced as the new supreme leader on 9 March.

Constitutionally, the Assembly of Experts is tasked to select the next leader following an absence in the position, via a council that examines possible candidates in secrecy while advising the current leader. Its sixth and current session began after it was elected in 2024 and is scheduled to sit until 2032.

Prior to his death, Ali Khamenei had not publicly discussed his replacement, nor had anyone been officially designated to be successor or proposed as a potential nominee. However, since 2014, various news outlets reported on the potential candidates and that the succession of Khamenei is deemed to have been decided but not disclosed publicly. According to The New York Times, the potential and likely candidates to succeed Khamenei were former president Hassan Rouhani and Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ruhollah Khomeini. Other potential candidates to succeed Khamenei included his son (and eventual successor) Mojtaba, his aides Asghar Hijazi, Ali Larijani, Sadiq Larijani, Alireza Arafi, Mohammad-Mahdi Mirbagheri, and Mohsen Araki. Former president Ebrahim Raisi was often mentioned in the frontrunners for the position prior to his death in a helicopter crash in 2024.

On 3 March, Iranian media reported that the Assembly of Experts' office in Qom had been bombed, reportedly during a session convened for electoral purposes.