As it is, the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran has reached out to the U.S. requesting talks. The list of potential successors to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Saturday by an Israeli airstrike, includes his son and former advisers.

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, led by the fiery anti-American Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, this will be only the second time a new supreme leader has been selected.

The potential successors to Khamenei include a group of hard-line anti-Western extremists who, like Khamenei, are bent on the destruction of Israel and the continued spread of the Islamic revolution.

One possible successor is regime loyalist Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, who is reported to have carried out Khamenei’s plan to massacre over 30,000 Iranians in January.

On Saturday, he threatened a response in a statement on X, writing, “We will make the Zionist criminals and the despicable Americans regret it,” adding, “The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will teach an unforgettable lesson to the oppressors of the international order bound for hell.”

In January, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) named him as one of “the architects of the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators.” The statement further said, “Larijani was one of the first Iranian leaders to call for violence in response to the legitimate demands of the Iranian people.”

Larijani was the president of the Islamic Republic’s parliament and, like Khamenei, has engaged in Holocaust denial. Larijani was also a commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a terrorist organization designated by the U.S. and EU.

Beni Sabti, an Iran expert at the Institute of National Security Studies in Israel, questioned reports suggesting Larijani is the front-runner to be the next… He told Digital, “Larijani is not a cleric, but he can assist some of the cleric candidates behind the scenes, such as his brother, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, who was the head of the judiciary.”

Mohammad-Javad Larijani has called for the destruction of Israel and denied the Holocaust. He was previously the secretary general of Iran’s high council for human rights.

As a close adviser to the late supreme leader, he has defended stoning for adultery, stating it protects “family values” as part of Islamic law.

Another possible replacement for Khamenei is his second son, Mojtaba, who works closely with the IRGC. He was sanctioned by the first Trump administration in 2019.

According to the Treasury Department sanction designation, “The Supreme Leader has delegated part of his leadership responsibilities to Mojataba Khamenei, who worked closely with the commander of the -Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and also the Basij Resistance Force (Basij) to further his father’s destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives.”

Iran International reported that the IRGC is seeking a quick replacement for Khamenei. Iran’s Islamic system stipulates that an elected body of 88 senior clerics – the Assembly of Experts – selects the next leader.

The cleric and jurist Alireza Arafi, 67, who is part of a three-person temporary leadership council running Iran, might also be Khamenei’s successor.

According to the U.S. group United Against a Nuclear Iran, Arafi promised “death” to protesters who knock off the turbans of Iranian Islamic clerics. “Those who attack the turbans of the clergy should know that the turban will become their shroud,” Arafi said.

The extremist Ayatollah Mohammad-Mehdi Mirbagheri is also a contender to replace Khamenei. Mirbagheri advocates for fighting and overcoming “infidels.”

Mirbagheri has quoted Iran’s first Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, saying that a “new culture based on Islam in the world” would mean “hardship, martyrdom and hunger” and that the Iranian people had “voluntarily chosen” to embrace this, according to Iran International. Mirbagheri’s theological qualifications position him as a natural replacement for Khamenei.

Another clerical successor to Khamenei being discussed is Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of… He is the custodian of the Khomeini mausoleum and, at 53, is young by the Islamic Republic’s leadership standards.

United Against a Nuclear Iran ranked Ayatollah Seyyed Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, who was born in 1956 in Bardkhun, Bushehr, as a second-tier candidate to replace Khamenei.

“Bushehr is a powerful figure in Iran’s religious and academic circles. He began his theological education in Bushehr before moving to Qom to continue his studies.

According to UANI, in 2024, Bushehri urged Iranian women to “address issues like the status of women’s rights in Western societies and the flaws in this area in the West,” which would prevent the “enemy [the West]” from “even having a chance to challenge us [Iran].”

Iran analyst Sabti, who was born in Tehran, said, “I don’t think Israel and the U.S. should let them choose the next leader.” He compared the successor system to when Israel eliminates a Hamas terrorist leader and he is quickly replaced with a new one.

“There is a need to ‘prevent the next leader from being chosen,'” he said. “Maybe we can eliminate the next one even before he is chosen.”

He said it is important to “break the system” to prevent the continuation of terrorism. “It is bad for Arab countries and Israel if the regime remains the same” in Iran.

Sabti said the regime can continue to build its illicit nuclear weapons program, ballistic missiles and sponsor terrorism, adding that it is better to dissolve the regime and “bring in a new system.”

He concluded that regime change requires “talking to the people,” and, “maybe it is time for them to come out and stage the good revolution.”

It should be noted that the content contains some unsubstantiated and one-sided views. The Iranian government’s actions and policies are complex and need to be analyzed objectively and comprehensively based on multiple sources and perspectives. Additionally, the description of some individuals may also lack sufficient verification and a more balanced understanding.