Tehran (Monitoring Desk): According to Iranian state media, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei has been appointed as the country’s new Supreme Leader. He is the second son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was reportedly killed in a joint US-Israel attack.
Reports state that Mojtaba Khamenei was elected by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member religious institution empowered by the constitution to select the Supreme Leader. Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28 in an airstrike at his Tehran compound, in which Mojtaba’s mother, wife, and a sister were also killed; Mojtaba was reportedly not present at the time.
The Assembly of Experts has called on the Iranian public to support the new leadership and maintain national unity.
Mojtaba Khamenei has long been influential within the inner circles of Iranian leadership and is considered closely connected to the powerful military organization Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He has never participated in public elections and avoids speeches or political statements, which has kept him largely unheard by the general population.
He had been regarded as a potential successor to his father for years. Critics argue that his appointment may reinforce perceptions of dynastic leadership in Iran, reminiscent of the pre-1979 Pahlavi monarchy.
Mojtaba Khamenei has previously faced accusations of suppressing anti-government protests, particularly during the 2009 Green Movement that followed contested presidential elections.
Due to the ongoing war and internet restrictions in Iran, further details about the new leadership have not yet emerged.
