ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei (1939 - 2026), was on Sunday named Iran’s new supreme leader, according to media affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“Ayatollah Sayed Mojtaba [Ali] Khamenei has been introduced as the third Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution following a decisive vote by the Assembly of Experts,” Tasnim News Agency reported.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Iran’s Assembly of Experts - the clerical body responsible for selecting the ultimate arbiter of the country’s political and religious structure - said that “by the decisive vote of its honorable representatives,” it had “appointed Ayatollah Sayed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei (may God protect him) as the third leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The Assembly said the move came “after thorough and extensive deliberations, and by utilizing the capacity of Article 108 of the [Iranian] Constitution, and in fulfillment of its religious duty.” It further urged “the noble people of Iran” to “pledge allegiance to the new leadership and to preserve unity around the axis of Wilayat [guardianship].”
The naming of Mojtaba Khamenei comes a little over a week after the US and Israel on February 28 launched a joint aerial campaign against Iran, killing several of the country’s top leaders and commanders, including long-time supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (1939 - 2026).
In its statement, the Assembly of Experts said that immediately after Ali Khamenei’s killing, it “did not hesitate for a single moment in the process of selecting and introducing the leader of the Islamic establishment.” The statement added that this was “despite the severe wartime conditions, direct threats from enemies against this public institution, and the bombing of the offices of the Secretariat of the Assembly” which led to the killing of several of its staff.
The appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s third supreme leader comes in direct defiance of US President Donald Trump, who said Friday that the selection of the 56-year-old would be “unacceptable,” warning that he “is not going to last long” without Washington’s approval.
“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” Trump told ABC News, adding, “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long. We want to make sure we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don’t have a president like me who’s willing to do it.”
The incoming ‘Rahbar’
Mojtaba Khamenei, born on September 8, 1969, in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, is the second child of his family. At the age of 17, during the Iran-Iraq War (1980 - 1988), while his father held the presidency, Mojtaba took an active role in fighting against the forces of the Baathist regime under Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.