Mojtaba Khamenei named Iran’s new supreme leader

2026-03-09 - 03:44

TEHRAN – Mojtaba Khamenei has been named as the Iran’s new supreme leader following the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a US-Israeli air strike on February 28. The 56-year-old cleric was picked by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body responsible for selecting the country’s top political and religious authority. Following the selection, Mojtaba Khamenei has become the third supreme leader of Iran since the 1979 revolution. His appointment comes at a volatile time when Iran is facing massive military attacks from the US and Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei: Who is Iran’s New Supreme Leader? Mojtaba Khamenei was born on September 8, 1969, in Mashhad, a major religious center in northeastern Iran. He is the second son of the late Ali Khamenei, who served as Iran’s supreme leader from 1989 until his recent death in a US-Israeli airstrike. Mojtaba is also the grandson of cleric Javad Khamenei. Growing up, Mojtaba witnessed his father’s rise through Iran’s political ranks, first as a significant political figure, then as president, and ultimately as supreme leader. He married Zahra Haddad-Adel, daughter of influential politician Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, a former parliament speaker and current head of a major cultural institution in Iran. Zahra was among the victims of the airstrike that struck the Khamenei family’s residence in Tehran. Mojtaba had survived the attack. Mojtaba studied religious sciences in Qom and, although he has never sought elected office, has been a prominent figure behind the scenes for decades, cultivating close connections with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iranian reports said he served in the Iran-Iraq War during the late 1980s while his father was president. Now, at a time of extreme instability in the country, Mojtaba Khamenei is stepping into a leadership role, taking the reins of Iran’s government amid one of the most turbulent periods in its recent history. Last week, US President Donald Trump has weighed in on Iran’s leadership succession, calling Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a potential frontrunner to succeed him, an “unlikely choice” for the country’s top position. In an interview with Reuters, Trump said: “We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future, so we don’t have to go back every five years and do this again and again. We want somebody that’s going to be great for the people, great for the country,” Trump said. He said the US must be involved in choosing the next leadership of Iran. He further stated that Trump expressed that it would be “great” if Kurdish groups operating from Iraq were to enter Iran and target Iranian security forces.