Iran’s Assembly of Experts — the body responsible for selecting the country’s Supreme Leader — has largely reached a majority consensus on a candidate to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, although several procedural steps still need to be completed.

The Assembly of Experts, a clerical body tasked with choosing Iran’s next Supreme Leader to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has essentially agreed on a successor candidate. The information was shared on March 8 by Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri, a member of the assembly.

According to Iran’s Mehr News Agency, Mirbaqeri said there are still “some obstacles” that need to be resolved before the selection process can be finalized.

A day earlier, a senior cleric from the Assembly of Experts said that members of the body would meet “within a day” to decide on the successor to the Supreme Leader.

Iranian media reported that some minor disagreements remain among members regarding whether the final decision must be approved during an in-person meeting or could be announced without following that procedure.

In a video published by the Nournews agency on March 8, another Assembly member, Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, said holding an in-person meeting for the final vote is currently “not feasible under the present conditions.”

Alekasir also stated that a candidate has already been chosen, based on advice from the late Supreme Leader that the head of Iran should be someone “hated by enemies” rather than widely praised. According to him, the person’s name has previously been mentioned by the United States.

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Supreme Leader, would be an “unacceptable” choice in his view.