US 'Looking At' Potential Candidates To Lead Iran, As Tehran's Assembly Of Experts Expected To Convene

Iran US 'Looking At' Potential Candidates To Lead Iran, As Tehran's Assembly Of Experts Expected To Convene By RFE/RL March 07, 2026 18:23 CET US 'Looking At' Potential Candidates To Lead Iran, As Tehran's Assembly Of Experts Expected To Convene Share Share Print Iran's Assembly of Experts is set to meet to select a new supreme leader, one of its members said on March 7, as the White House said it was looking for an "acceptable" candidate to lead the country. With Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed on the first day of a joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran on February 28, it is the first time in 36 years that Tehran finds itself having to pick a new supreme leader. According to Fars, a semiofficial news agency that is close to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Hossein Mozafari, a member of the 88‑seat Assembly of Experts, said he had "strong hope" that a decision would be made within the next 24 hours. SEE ALSO: The Administrator, The Wild Card, The Heir: The Clerics Vying For Iran's Top Job Meanwhile, the United States has voiced its interest in being involved in the selection, with President Donald Trump saying the next leader should be "GREAT & ACCEPTABLE." "I know there are a number of people that our intelligence agencies and the United States government are looking at, but I won't go any further than that," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House on March 6. Leavitt's comments came after Trump ruled out Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei -- a hardliner who has been considered a favorite to succeed his father -- as a successor and suggested that the only acceptable outcome of the US military campaign in Iran would be its "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER." "What the President means is that when he, as Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces, determines ‌that Iran no longer poses a threat to the United States of America, and the goals of Operation Epic Fury has been fully realized, then Iran will essent...