Mojtaba Khamenei is Iran's New Supreme Leader

DUBAI, March 9: Iran’s clerical leadership appointed Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father, Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s new Supreme Leader. Regional officials say this move is a direct rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump, who had declared the son “unacceptable”.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike at the start of the conflict, now in its second week.

“Having Mojtaba take over is the same playbook,” said Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

“It’s a big humiliation for the United States to carry out an operation of this scale, risk so much, and end up killing an 86-year-old man, only to have him replaced by his hardline son.”

Under Iran’s complex, theocratic system, the supreme leader is the ultimate authority, including over foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme, as well as guiding the elected president and parliament.

NEW LEADER HAS LONG OPPOSED REFORMISTS

A powerful mid‑ranking cleric, Mojtaba, 56, has long opposed reformist groups advocating engagement with the West. His close ties to senior clerics and the IRGC – which dominates Iran’s security forces and its economy – give him leverage across the state’s political and coercive security institutions.

He amassed influence under his father as a key figure within the security apparatus and the vast business empire it controls, operating for ⁠years as Ali Khamenei’s gatekeeper and, in practice, a “mini-supreme leader”, analysts say.

His elevation comes as the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran intensifies, with joint strikes hitting fuel depots and other targets inside Iran, while Iranian missiles and drones have struck Gulf states, widening the conflict.

Mojtaba Khamenei studied under clerics in the seminaries of Qom, the heart of Shi’ite theological learning, and holds the clerical rank of Hojjatoleslam.

The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Mojtaba in 2019, saying he represented the ⁠supreme leader in an official capacity despite never holding elected or formal government office.

A Gulf source familiar with regional government thinking said of Mojtaba’s appointment:

“This tells Trump and Washington that Iran will not back down, they will fight on until the finish.”