Iran’s Assembly of Experts has announced Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new Supreme Leader, just over a week after the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in joint United States-Israeli strikes that have plunged the entire region into a sprawling war.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, becomes the third person to lead the Islamic Republic and the first example of hereditary succession since the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy in the 1979 revolution.
A statement from the Assembly of Experts, the panel of Shia clerics responsible under Iranian law for choosing the country’s top leader, said Mojtaba Khamenei had been selected as the third leader of the Islamic Republic, according to reports from IRIB state TV and the Fars, Tasnim, and ISNA news agencies.
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The appointment was far from smooth. According to Iran International, IRGC commanders pressured Assembly of Experts members to vote for Mojtaba Khamenei, with “repeated contacts and psychological and political pressure.” Those who presented arguments against him were given “limited time” to speak, the discussion was cut off, and a vote was held.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had earlier denied claims that the Islamic regime had chosen a new supreme ruler, despite multiple officials hinting that Mojtaba Khamenei had been elected following significant pressure from the IRGC.
Adding a layer of irony to the appointment, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was reportedly deeply opposed to the appointment of his son, fearing it would bring back a monarchy-like structure to the Islamic regime. According to sources cited by Iran International, one assembly member stated that “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was not pleased with the idea of his son’s leadership and never allowed this issue to be raised during his lifetime.”
Mojtaba Khamenei was born in 1969 in the holy Shia city of Mashhad and grew up as his father was helping lead the opposition to the Shah. As a young man, he served in the Iran-Iraq war. He studied under religious conservatives in the seminaries of Qom, Iran’s centre of Shia theological learning, and holds the clerical rank of Hujjat al-Islam.
He has never run for office or been subjected to a public vote, but has for decades been a highly influential figure in the inner circle of the supreme leader, cultivating deep ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
His ascension is expected to signal a more hardline Iran. Mojtaba is expected to be more hardline than his father, and his ascent means the Iranian regime may get more repressive. He has close ties to some of the most “ideologically extremist clerics” who have been at the forefront of the regime’s most violent crackdowns. Critics have also linked him to the violent suppression of the 2009 Green Movement protests and reportedly the manipulation of elections that brought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power in 2005.
His religious credentials have been an issue of contention, since he is a hojatoleslam, a mid-level cleric, rather than the higher rank of ayatollah. But his father was not an ayatollah either when he became the country’s leader in 1989, and the law was amended to accommodate him, so a similar compromise is considered possible.
The appointment has drawn immediate and sharp reactions internationally. President Donald Trump had told Axios last week that the choice would be “unacceptable” and suggested he wanted to handpick a new supreme leader, a process usually overseen by Iran’s clerics. “They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment,” he said.
Trump reiterated the threat after the announcement, saying the new leader “is not going to last long” without Washington’s approval. Iranian officials rejected Trump’s push to be involved in the selection of the next leader, insisting that only Iranians can decide the future of their country.
Meanwhile, the Assembly of Experts justified the selection by invoking the late supreme leader’s own advice, with one member stating the candidate had been picked based on Khamenei’s guidance that Iran’s top leader should “be hated by the enemy.” “Even the Great Satan has mentioned his name,” the senior cleric said, referring to Trump’s earlier statements.
The Israel Defense Forces have already warned that they will not hesitate to target the new Supreme Leader, as US and Israeli attacks continue across Iran, with explosions reported in Qom and Tehran.
Mojtaba Khamenei will now be charged with leading the Islamic Republic through the biggest crisis in its 47-year history. The ongoing strikes have severely weakened Iran’s senior security apparatus. Ali Khamenei’s top security adviser, Ali Shamkhani, IRGC commander Mohammad Pakpour, and Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh are dead, scrambling the top of the Iranian government.
Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, called for unity around the new supreme leader. At the same time, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf welcomed the choice, saying that following the new supreme leader was a “religious and national duty.” Al Jazeera
For ordinary Iranians, the appointment carries deep historical weight. Father-to-son succession is widely frowned upon in the country, particularly given the memory of the US-backed monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi that was toppled in 1979. As one scholar noted before the appointment, most Iranians had hoped for a transition to a system of governance not led by a cleric, a hope that now appears to have been extinguished, at least for the foreseeable future.
Kivu Post will continue to follow developments as this rapidly evolving story unfolds. This article will be updated.