According to Iranian state television, Iran’s Assembly of Experts has elected , the son of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader.
Mojtaba Khamenei, aged 56, is the second-eldest son of Ali Khamenei, born in Mashhad in 1969.
His early childhood overlapped with his father’s rise as a revolutionary figurehead opposing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s monarchy.
Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ali Khamenei transitioned from a dissident cleric to a senior government official, holding key positions in the regime, including deputy defense minister.
The family relocated from Mashhad to Tehran, where Mojtaba attended Alavi High School, an institution known for educating members of .
There, he received a general and religious education, graduating in 1987. In 1989, following Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death, Ali Khamenei was appointed supreme leader.
That same year, Mojtaba began his formal clerical studies in Tehran, studying under his father and Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who later became Iran’s chief justice.
Over the years, Mojtaba was constantly seen with his father and was regarded as an influential behind-the-scenes figure.
In an last week, when asked about reports suggesting Mojtaba Khamenei was the new supreme leader, President Donald Trump said, “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone who will bring harmony and peace to Iran.” Trump also stated, “They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela.”
In 2019, the under Executive Order 13867. The U.S. Treasury Department stated that he had been “representing the supreme leader in an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position aside from work in the office of his father.”
The Treasury also said the supreme leader had delegated part of his leadership responsibilities to Mojtaba.
It said he of the IRGC’s Quds Force and the Basij Resistance Force, positioning him as a key player in both domestic and international security affairs.
of former Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel.
Among Ali Khamenei’s sons, he is considered according to