Alireza Arafi was appointed on Sunday as the jurist member of Iran's Leadership Council, a body tasked with fulfilling the supreme leader's role until the Assembly of Experts elects a new leader, ISNA news agency reported.
A cleric member of the Guardian Council, Arafi will be part of the temporary Leadership Council alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.
Arafi’s appointment came after Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in Israeli and US attacks, igniting calls for revenge from the Revolutionary Guards.
The state television on Sunday announced a 40-day mourning period and seven public holidays following the killing of the country’s 86-year-old supreme leader, who had been in power since 1989.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, vowed to punish the "murderers" of Khamenei.
Iranian media reported that the daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter of the supreme leader were also killed in US and Israeli strikes.
Earlier on Saturday, US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Khamenei was "dead."
Attack on Iran leader when he reportedly met with inner circle
Israel and the US timed their attack on Iran on Saturday to coincide with a meeting Khamenei was holding with top aides, according to two US sources and a US official familiar with the matter.
Israel claimed Khamenei was killed along with top lieutenants, including Ali Shamkhani, the powerful former National Security Council secretary, and Mohammad Pakpour, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander.
Two Iranian sources told Reuters news agency that Khamenei met on Saturday with Shamkhani and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani at a secure location shortly before the strikes started.
