Video: “I truly don’t deserve to be Supreme Leader,” Khamenei tells 1989 Iran Assembly
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
A newly circulated archival clip of the Assembly of Experts’ emergency session on June 3, 1989, records a hesitant Ayatollah Ali Khamenei resisting his nomination as Iran’s next Supreme Leader in the immediate aftermath of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death.
The grainy footage, taken during the closed-door meeting chaired by then-parliament speaker Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, shows Khamenei—then a mid-ranking cleric addressing assembled clerics and officials as they debated succession.
At one point he is heard saying, “I truly don’t deserve this position,” and asking, “What sort of leadership will this be?” according to the footage.
Those remarks underscore the reluctance Khamenei voiced publicly in the session, where debate over his nomination was reportedly cut short by Rafsanjani and others who moved to secure a consensus.
Supporters in the meeting proposed procedures such as holding a referendum to legitimise the choice, but the clip highlights a moment framed by some as a reluctant ascension rather than an immediate consolidation of power.
The Assembly of Experts, a body of elected clerics charged with selecting the Supreme Leader, convened urgently after Khomeini’s death to prevent a power vacuum.
