Khamenei’s death leaves Iran at historic turning point—without clear successor

Wall Street Journal: He leaves behind a system with no obvious successor, largely by design, and an Islamic Republic in a fight for survival. Any successor will likely have less personal authority than Khamenei and serve a more symbolic role.

“We can almost certainly say that leadership will not be concentrated in one person,” said Mehdi Khalaji, author of a 2023 biography about Khamenei and a former student for 14 years at seminaries in Iran’s holy city of Qom. “The next supreme leader will be mostly ceremonial.”…