Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi called on the country's Assembly of Experts to act quickly, saying in a statement on Saturday: ““Timely awareness of this important issue will lead to national authority and the best possible organization of affairs.“
His call was echoed by two other clerics, according to Iranian state media.
Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani stressed accelerating the election of a leader, according to the state news agency IRNA.
On Friday, Jamileh Alamolhoda, widow of Iran's former President Ebrahim Raisi, also called on the Assembly of Experts “to quickly determine and elect a new leader and block the path of discord and division“.
It is unclear whether the Assembly, a group of 88 clerics, has been able to convene since the US and Israeli air strikes began a week ago.
Analysts consider Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, one of the leading candidates to succeed his father, but there has been no news about him in the past week.
The Assembly building in the city of Qom was heavily damaged last week.
Israel has threatened to attack Khamenei's successor. Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on the X program last week that any leader appointed by the Iranian regime to "lead the plan to destroy Israel... and to oppress the Iranian people will be a target for elimination."
Until a new supreme leader is elected, a three-member interim council is responsible for the day-to-day running of the government, consisting of the president, the head of the judiciary, and a cleric nominated by the Assembly.