Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader, state media reported on Sunday.
The announcement came after Iran’s assembly of experts (the clerical body responsible for appointing the nation’s highest authority) cast what it described as a “decisive vote” in his favour. US and Israeli strikes had killed his father the previous Saturday.
Mojtaba Khamenei had long featured in Iranian political circles as a potential successor to his father. He was close to the late Ayatollah in his final years. Yet he never publicly addressed the speculation.
His appointment hands one of the world’s most powerful religious offices to a member of the same family. Some observers have already drawn comparisons to the Pahlavi monarchy that ruled Iran before the 1979 revolution.
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Ayatollah Hosseinali Eshkevari, a member of the assembly of experts, signalled the decision shortly before the formal announcement. “The name of Khamenei will continue,” he said in a video shared on Iranian media. The assembly urged all Iranians — “especially the elites and intellectuals of the seminaries and universities” — to unite behind the new leader.
The appointment puts Tehran on a collision course with Washington. Donald Trump had repeatedly demanded the right to approve Iran’s choice of supreme leader. He warned that whoever took the role “is not going to last long” without American consent. Iran rejected the demand outright. The White House had not publicly responded to the announcement at the time of publication.
Meanwhile, on Friday, exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi declared he had accepted the “call” to lead Iran. The eldest son of the last Shah is the most prominent figure in the Iranian opposition movement. His declaration sets up a direct contest over who holds legitimacy in Iranian eyes.
Iran’s supreme leader holds final authority over all matters of state, ranking above even the president.
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