The late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been named the future leader of the Islamic republic. He is a quiet man who will carry on his father’s strict leadership style.
Although the 56-year-old did not hold an official position during his father’s reign, it was believed that he was working behind the scenes to influence Iran’s political establishment.
Because of his connections to the influential Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which quickly swore loyalty to the new leader, he is seen as close to conservatives.
Within hours of his nomination, President Masoud Pezeshkian, the armed forces, and the judiciary all endorsed the third supreme leader of the Islamic republic.
Because of his discretion at official ceremonies and in the media, Khamenei’s true influence has been the subject of intense speculation for years among the Iranian population as well as in diplomatic circles.
He was named supreme leader by Iran’s top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, in a statement published shortly after midnight on Monday (2030 GMT Sunday).
Even though the Islamic revolution had put an end to a multi-century royal dynasty headed by the shah, the council opted for the kind of hereditary transition that Ali Khamenei had rejected on principle in 2024.
Born on September 8, 1969 in the holy city of Mashhad in eastern Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei is the only one of the late supreme leader’s six children to hold a public position.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed aged 86 during the first wave of US-Israeli air strikes on Tehran that triggered the war in the Middle East on February 28.
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