DUBAI: Two influential and ‌hardline Iranian clerics have called for the swift selection of a new supreme leader to help guide the nation amid a new wave of US and Israeli strikes, Iranian media reported on Saturday.
The calls by the clerics suggest that at least some in the clerical establishment are uncomfortable with leaving a three-man council in charge, even temporarily under constitutional rules, after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali ‌Khamenei.
US President ‌Donald Trump has said the ‌US ⁠should have a role ⁠in choosing the new leader, a demand Iran has rejected.
Naser Makarem Shirazi, a grand ayatollah, which means he commands a broad following for his religious rulings, said an appointment was needed swiftly to “help better organize the country’s affairs,” state media reported.
Last ⁠week, two senior Shi’ite religious authorities ‌also issued fatwas, or religious ‌decrees, calling on Muslims around the world to avenge ‌the killing of Khamenei. Makarem Shirazi said it was ‌a religious duty for Muslims “until the evil of these criminals is eradicated from the world.”
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani also urged members of the Assembly of Experts, ‌a clerical body charged with choosing the new leader, to accelerate the process ⁠of ⁠picking Khamenei’s successor, state media reported.
Following rules laid out in Iran’s constitution, a three-man council comprising the president, a senior cleric and the head of the judiciary, has taken on the supreme leader’s role until the Assembly of Experts decides.
The constitution states a supreme leader should be chosen within three months, although with war raging, it is not immediately clear how quickly the 88-member Assembly of Experts can convene. Sources have said some clerics have held some consultations online.