Tehran: Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, 56, the son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed in the war, has assumed office as the country’s new Supreme Leader, according to reports.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s highest authority and a senior Shia cleric, was killed on the 28th in an attack carried out by the United States and Israel. His residence in Tehran was reportedly completely destroyed, and the strike also killed members of his family, advisers and senior military officials.
Following the incident, cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arabi was appointed as interim Supreme Leader. With intense speculation over who would succeed Khamenei, the 88-member Assembly of Experts convened an emergency meeting.
The Assembly typically meets at its secretariat in Qom, but the building was reportedly flattened in the recent attacks. The meeting was therefore held at a secure alternate location, where Mojtaba Khamenei—long seen as a leading contender—was said to have been chosen.
Though a Shia cleric, Mojtaba has not held any official government post. He is widely regarded as influential due to long-standing links with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and intelligence bodies. The reported father-to-son succession has raised questions, with Israeli and Iranian opposition media claiming the decision was made under strong pressure from the Revolutionary Guard.
