Srinagar, March 9 — Iran’s powerful clerical body has named Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader following his father’s death in the first wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, according to Iranian state media.
The Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical council responsible for appointing the supreme leader, announced the decision in a statement carried by state media on Sunday.
“The Assembly of Experts has chosen Mojtaba Khamenei as the new leader through a decisive vote,” the statement said, urging Iranians to rally behind the leadership and maintain national unity.
The body called on citizens, “especially the elites and intellectuals of the seminaries and universities,” to “pledge allegiance to the leadership and maintain unity.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was reported killed on the opening day of the conflict after strikes launched by the United States and Israel targeted key Iranian locations. Iranian reports said the attack also killed the cleric’s wife, mother and one of his daughters. Mojtaba Khamenei was not present at the location during the strike and survived the bombardment.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, is widely viewed as a hardline cleric with deep influence inside Iran’s ruling establishment despite never holding elected office. For years he has remained a powerful figure within his father’s inner circle, cultivating strong ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the country’s influential paramilitary force.
His appointment is expected to reinforce the position of conservative factions within Iran’s leadership at a time of intense military confrontation and uncertainty in the region.
Unlike many senior clerics, Mojtaba Khamenei has largely kept a low public profile. He rarely delivers public speeches or sermons, and many Iranians have never heard his voice despite long-standing speculation that he was emerging as a potential successor to his father.
The issue of succession had remained a sensitive subject within Iran’s political system. His elevation to the post could also revive debate over the concentration of power within one family, drawing comparisons with dynastic rule that existed before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s connections within the security establishment date back to his early years. During the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, he served in the IRGC’s Habib Battalion and developed ties with fellow fighters who later rose to influential positions in Iran’s security and intelligence apparatus.