Tehran, Iran. Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, the eldest son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been elected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts as the country’s new Supreme Leader, according to Iran International. The outlet said the selection took place under pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Assembly of Experts decision and reported circumstances
The decision by the 88-member Assembly of Experts was reported amid Iranian media accounts that its members were not present in the building in Qom that was struck earlier on Tuesday by Israel. Despite those reports, United States President Donald Trump claimed the clerical leadership had been “flattened”.
Iran International reported that Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife was killed in a strike in Iraq on Saturday. A correspondent for the outlet said his selection as Supreme Leader took place “under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards”.
Succession debate
Mojtaba Khamenei’s election was reported as strengthening the influence of the Khamenei family within the Islamic Republic and prompting debate over the principles of the theocratic system, which does not formally provide for hereditary succession.
Background and role within the Islamic Republic
Mojtaba Khamenei has long been described as a discreet yet powerful cleric and a potential successor to his father, with significant influence over Iran’s political and security apparatus and close ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Born in 1969 in Mashhad, he grew up with six siblings in a highly politicised environment. His early years were shaped by his father’s opposition to the Shah, which led to repeated arrests by the regime’s secret police, SAVAK.
Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Khamenei family moved to Tehran, where he attended Alavi High School and graduated in 1987. During his studies he joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
During the Iran–Iraq war, he served in the IRGC’s Habib Battalion, where he developed ties with figures who later became influential within Iran’s establishment. His father’s appointment as Supreme Leader in 1989 was reported as a turning point in his life.
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