According to Sazegara, the remaining political and military elite in charge of the country was heavily divided over picking Khamenei, who was backed by some of the country’s most hardline, ultra-conservative clerics and most of the IRGC. Another faction, Sazegara said, most likely led by Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, were in favor of retaining the interim leadership council — appointed as a stop-gap body to run things after the elder Khamenei was killed in the initial attacks.