Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei as its new Supreme Leader, just over a week after the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in United States-Israeli strikes that plunged the entire region into a sprawling war.
Khamenei, who will now be charged with leading the Islamic Republic through the biggest crisis in its 47-year history, was named by clerics as his father’s successor on Sunday.
Mojtaba Khamenei has never run for office or been subjected to a public vote, but has for decades been a highly influential figure in the inner circle of the supreme leader, cultivating deep ties to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In recent years, he has increasingly been touted as a top potential replacement for his father.
His selection could be a sign that more hardline factions in Iran’s establishment retain power, and could indicate that the government has little desire to agree to a deal or negotiations in the short term as the war is in its second week.
The 88-member Assembly of Experts that is authorised to choose the country’s supreme leader had earlier indicated it had reached a majority consensus on its choice, without naming who it was, with one member saying, “the path of Imam Khomeini and the path of the martyr Imam Khamenei has been chosen. The name of Khamenei will continue.”
Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran for 37 years, succeeding Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led the 1979 revolution, was killed in a United States-Israeli strike on Tehran on February 28, at the outset of the war which has now unleashed chaos throughout the Middle East.
The Israeli military has already threatened to kill any replacement for Khamenei, while US President Donald Trump, who had demanded a say in the nomination, said the war might only end once Iran’s military and rulers had been wiped out.
Trump said Sunday that Iran’s next leader would not “last long” without his approval. “He’s going to have to get approval from us,” Trump told ABC News. “If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long.”
Iranian officials have rejected Trump’s push to be involved in the selection of the country’s next leader, insisting that only Iranians can decide the future of their country.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf appeared to ridicule on Friday the US president’s assertion that he wants to have a say in appointing the successor to Khamenei.
“The fate of dear Iran, which is more precious than life, will be determined solely by the proud Iranian nation, not by [Jeffrey] Epstein’s gang,” Ghalibaf wrote on X, referring to the late sex offender who had ties to rich and powerful figures in the US.
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