Alireza Arafi, a senior Iranian cleric and conservative political figure, has been appointed as the jurist member of Iran’s interim Leadership Council.
The Leadership Council is tasked with temporarily performing the duties of the supreme leader until the Assembly of Experts elects a successor following the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Arafi currently serves as a cleric member of the Guardian Council, a position he has held since 2019. He has also been a member of the Assembly of Experts since 2022.
Under Iran’s constitutional mechanism, the interim Leadership Council comprises three members — the president, the chief justice and a jurist from the Guardian Council. Arafi will serve on the council alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i.
Arafi has been head of Iran’s seminaries since 2016 and has served as the Friday Prayer Imam of Qom since 2015. He previously led Al-Mustafa International University from 2008 to 2018, an institution known for educating foreign clerical students.
Born in 1959 in Maybod, in Yazd province, Arafi comes from a religious family. His father, Mohammad Ibrahim al-Arafi, was reportedly a close associate of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
His elevation to the interim Leadership Council places him at the centre of Iran’s political and religious establishment during a critical transition period.