Mojtaba Khamenei has been named Iran’s new supreme leader, placing the son of the country’s late ruler at the helm of the Islamic Republic amid the ongoing war with the United States and Israel, a conflict that has spread across the Middle East.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts selected the 56-year-old cleric to succeed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Feb. 28 during the opening phase of the conflict, The Associated Press reports.
The decision places a largely secretive figure with longstanding ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at the center of Iran’s military and political command during a volatile moment in the Middle East.
Under Iran’s political system, the Assembly of Experts, a body of Shiite clerics, is tasked with selecting and supervising the supreme leader, who commands the armed forces, holds decisive influence over the judiciary and security services, and determines strategic decisions, including policy toward Iran’s nuclear program.
The younger Khamenei had long been considered a potential successor, despite never holding an elected or appointed government position. Political figures inside Iran have criticized the idea of hereditary succession, arguing that passing leadership from father to son risks echoing the monarchy of the shah that was overthrown during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Supporters inside Iran’s political and security establishment backed the appointment during wartime. Senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani reportedly told state television that Mojtaba Khamenei had been trained by his father and could manage the country during the crisis.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard also issued a statement backing the new leader, and Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned militant group in Lebanon, expressed support.
Iran’s nuclear program remains a central question under the new leadership.
United States strikes during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June left several key nuclear sites damaged, though Iran still possesses highly enriched uranium close to weapons-grade levels. As supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei now holds ultimate authority over whether Iran advances toward building a nuclear weapon.
Israel called Mojtaba Khamenei a potential target, and U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the appointment, saying the selection of Khamenei’s son was unacceptable to him.
Trump also said he wanted influence over who governs Iran once the war ends, suggesting that any new leader would struggle to remain in power without Washington’s approval.
Iranian media reported that Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment followed discussions within the Assembly of Experts, which were partly held online during the war due to security concerns, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Officials delayed announcing the decision until Sunday amid fears that the successor could be targeted.
Mojtaba Khamenei comes from Iran’s hardline faction and may continue a strict political line. Citing Iranian officials and analysts familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reports that he “would likely opt for an even more hardline direction as supreme leader,” and one Iranian official described him as “much tougher than his father.”
His record within the political and security establishment has long linked him to the institutions that shape Iran’s military posture and relations with external rivals. Saeid Golkar, an expert on Iran’s security services at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, told The Wall Street Journal that if Mojtaba Khamenei takes power, “He will take his father’s revenge against both Iranian society as well as Israel and the United States.”
Research by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace connects Mojtaba Khamenei to the state’s response to the 2009 Green Movement protests, saying he worked closely with the Basij paramilitary forces during the crackdown on demonstrators. The protests erupted after Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election and became the largest political challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution before security forces eventually suppressed them.
Carnegie also notes that Ali Khamenei reshaped key political institutions before his death to ensure that hardliners dominated them. Through the Guardian Council, he disqualified hundreds of candidates from the March 2024 elections to the Assembly of Experts, many of them moderates or reformists. Because that clerical body chooses the supreme leader, its composition greatly reduces the chances that a moderate figure would emerge to lead the country.
Meanwhile, the conflict has expanded well beyond Iran and Israel. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has fired missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states during the fighting.
Saudi Arabia said Monday that its air defenses intercepted a drone aimed at the massive Shaybah oil field.
The U.S. military said one service member died of injuries from an Iranian attack on troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1, bringing the number of American soldiers killed during the conflict to seven.
Israel also intensified operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon after the group launched rockets toward northern Israel during the early days of the war. Lebanese authorities said more than 517,000 people have registered as displaced during the fighting, though officials say the true number is likely higher.
Casualties across the region have mounted.
Iranian officials reported that at least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran, while at least 397 people have died in Lebanon and at least 11 in Israel.
Infrastructure across the region has also been struck. Bahrain accused Iran of damaging one of its desalination plants during an attack on civilian infrastructure. Desalination plants provide drinking water to millions of people across the Gulf states, where fresh water sources are scarce.
Iran, in turn, said a U.S. airstrike damaged a desalination facility on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, cutting water supplies to about 30 villages. A spokesman for U.S. Central Command said American forces do not target civilians.
Inside Iran, the Iranian Red Crescent warned residents in Tehran to prepare for possible toxic air pollution after Israeli strikes set oil depots ablaze. The organization said about 10,000 civilian structures, including homes, schools and nearly three dozen health facilities, had been damaged during the conflict.
