Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, the second son of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been named Iran’s new supreme leader, Iranian state media reported Sunday.
While the new supreme leader has never held elected office, the 57-year-old for years has operated quietly behind the scenes from within his father’s office — cultivating influence across the security establishment, particularly within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Mojtaba Khamenei was selected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, comprised of 88 clerics and supervised by the 12-member Guardian Council, which acts as a watchdog for Iran’s constitution. Ali Khamenei was killed on Feb. 28 in a strike that also took out about 40 other high ranking Iranian officials.
When his father became supreme leader in 1989, Mojtaba Khamenei effectively became one of his closest aides. Over the years, he has been involved in running parts of the state apparatus, with his influence growing particularly after the 2009 political unrest known as the Green Revolution. He is believed to have played a role in coordinating elements of the government response — a brutal crackdown involving killings and mass arrests.
Mojtaba Khamenei studied theology in Qom and served in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, during which he was injured. The war was where he developed close ties with the military services and with the IRGC.
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images
In Iran’s political system, the IRGC wields vast military, economic and political power — and Mojtaba Khamenei’s authority has largely come from proximity to power rather than his religious stature.
His selection as supreme leader signals that Iran’s ruling elite has chosen stability over experimentation at a moment of extreme pressure. His deep ties to the Revolutionary Guard and security apparatus also suggest that the institutions driving Iran’s current war posture will retain strong influence in the next phase of leadership. It also marks something unprecedented in the Islamic Republic: a leadership transition that effectively keeps power within the same family.
Leading a secretive life, Mojtaba Khamenei has never given a public speech and is rarely seen out and about. As there is not much public record of him, his political opinions are not fully known, but many analysts consider him a hardliner. He was his father’s assistant, and he has been teaching in Qom seminary, Iran’s main clerical center, for about eight years.
Mojtaba Khamenei is married and has at least two children, a son and a daughter.
President Trump had previously spoken out against Mojtaba Khamenei, calling him a “lightweight,” and has said that any supreme leader appointed without U.S. approval is “not going to last long.”
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