TEHRAN, BY WIRE — The world's prediction markets, those cold and unsentimental arbiters of probable destiny, have rendered a striking verdict: one candidate holds a commanding 66% probability of ascending to Iran's supreme leadership before January 2045, per Kalshi exchange data backed by nearly $114,000 in daily trading volume. Should the market prove prescient, the Islamic Republic's most consequential succession in four decades may be less of a mystery than Tehran's clerical establishment prefers to advertise. The stakes could scarcely be higher. Iran's Supreme Leader commands the Revolutionary Guards, controls nuclear policy, and holds final authority over a nation of ninety million souls at the fulcrum of Middle Eastern power. Prediction markets do not name their sources, but a 66% consensus — achieved, per market rules, only upon the Leader's death — suggests that bettors believe the succession architecture within the Assembly of Experts is rather less opaque than official silence implies.