Dubai/Tehran – In a move that cements the hardline faction’s grip on power, Iran’s Assembly of Experts has named Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new Supreme Leader, succeeding his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli air strikes over a week ago.
The appointment of the 56-year-old mid-ranking cleric, who survived the initial wave of attacks that killed his wife, signals a determination for continuity within the Islamic Republic’s most powerful circles, even as the nation finds itself in a direct military confrontation with the United States and Israel.
‘The Enemy Hates Him’
A member of the assembly, Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, explained the choice in a video on Sunday, stating that a candidate was selected based on the late leader’s guidance that Iran’s top leader should be “hated by the enemy.”
“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” Heidari Alekasir said, a clear reference to President Donald Trump declaring days earlier that Mojtaba was an “unacceptable” choice for Washington.
The ‘Father’s Gatekeeper’
For decades, Mojtaba Khamenei operated in the shadows, accumulating immense power as a senior figure close to the security forces and the vast business empire they control. Sources familiar with the matter described him as his father’s “gatekeeper,” a crucial behind-the-scenes broker who controlled access to the most powerful man in Iran.
His close ties with the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) give him unparalleled leverage across Iran’s political and security apparatus.
“He has a strong constituency and support within the IRGC, in particular amongst the younger radical generations,” said Kasra Aarabi, head of researching the IRGC at United Against Nuclear Iran, a US-based policy organization.
A Cleric of Questionable Rank
Mojtaba was born in 1969 in the holy city of Mashhad and served in the Iran-Iraq war as a young man. He studied under religious conservatives in the seminaries of Qom, Iran’s center of Shi’ite theological learning, but holds the clerical rank of Hojjatoleslam—a notch below the rank of Ayatollah held by his father and the revolution’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini.
Despite never holding a formal government position, his influence has been undeniable and controversial. His role has long been a point of contention in a country that overthrew a monarchy in 1979, with critics decrying any hint of dynastic succession.
Sanctions and Controversy
The US Treasury Department sanctioned Mojtaba in 2019, stating he represented the supreme leader in “an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position.” The Treasury alleged he worked closely with the IRGC’s Quds Force and the Basij militia “to advance his father’s destabilising regional ambitions.”
He was a particular target of public anger during the 2022 protests that erupted over the death of Mahsa Amini. His sudden suspension of Islamic jurisprudence classes in Qom in 2024 also fueled widespread speculation.
A Political Kingmaker
Mojtaba’s influence was long suspected in the rise of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. During the disputed 2009 election, which led to massive anti-government protests, he was accused by moderate cleric Mehdi Karroubi of using his power to support Ahmadinejad. Khamenei rejected the accusation at the time.
Now, with the ultimate power in his hands and his wife killed in the same strikes that took his father, Mojtaba Khamenei assumes leadership of a nation at war, with the world watching to see if the “gatekeeper” can command the stage.
