Iran Assembly of Experts Leadership Battle Intensifies

A new power struggle is emerging within Iran's ruling establishment: Ahmad Alamolhoda, a hardline cleric who leads Friday prayers in the city of Mashhad, is reportedly working to secure support for a bid to head the Assembly of Experts.

The position carries extraordinary significance. The Assembly of Experts is an 88-member clerical body with the sole authority to select Iran's Supreme Leader. The assembly recently convened to choose Mojtaba Khamenei as the country's new Supreme Leader following the death of his father, Ali Khamenei.

According to reports, Alamolhoda is now working to consolidate his position within the assembly and gather votes ahead of the selection of a new chairman. The current chairman, Mohammad-Ali Movahedi-Kermani, is elderly, and the possibility of his replacement has reignited competition for leadership of the most sensitive institution in Iran's succession system.

The man who wants to decide who Iran's leaders will be

Alamolhoda is considered among the clerics most closely identified with the regime's hardline faction. He has served as Friday prayer leader in Mashhad and is known for his sharp statements on political and security matters. He was also the father-in-law of former President Ebrahim Raisi.

The timing makes this power struggle especially significant. Iran is in a sensitive period following its leadership transition and ongoing conflicts, and a battle is now underway within the ruling system over power centers that will determine the regime's future.

If Alamolhoda succeeds in securing the chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts, he would become one of the figures closest to the center where the most critical decisions regarding Iran's supreme leadership are made.