Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba chosen as Iran’s new supreme leader | Iran

Mujtaba Khamenei, the second son of the late Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been chosen as his successor, according to Iranian state media.

Members of the religious body responsible for choosing Iran’s highest authority announced the decision on Sunday..

Considering that Donald Trump has already acknowledged that Mojtaba Khamenei is the most likely successor and has made clear that such an outcome is unacceptable, this move could lead to a further escalation of the war.

Mojtaba Khamenei’s ascension marks the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution that Iran’s religious leadership passed from father to son. This is a development that is likely to fuel debate in Iran about the emergence of a dynastic system in a state expressly established to overthrow hereditary rule after the Shah.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who reigned for 37 years, was killed in the US-Israeli attack on Tehran on February 28, on the first day of the war with Iran.

Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s next religious leader “won’t be around long” if Tehran doesn’t get his approval first. Mojtaba called Khamenei an “unacceptable” choice.

The US president rejected the possibility of Khamenei’s leadership and insisted that Washington should have a say in Iran’s future political direction.

In a Persian post about X earlier in the day, the Israeli military said this would continue. chasing every successor He stated that he would go after anyone who wants to appoint a successor to Ali Khamenei.

For many analysts, Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment is a symbolic move designed to make the regime appear strong and determined not to bow to Western pressure.

The 56-year-old cleric has never held elected office or an official senior position in the Iranian government. He spent most of his life at the center of power in Iran, but remained largely out of the public eye.

Born in the northeastern city of Mashhad in 1969, Khamenei grew up in the political and religious world that emerged after the 1979 revolution. As a young man he studied theology at the seminaries in Qom and reportedly took part in the final stages of the Iran-Iraq war.

Unlike many figures in Iran’s leadership, Khamenei has never sought elected office or a major government post. Instead, he gradually became an influential presence in his father’s office, where he was seen as part of a small circle that managed political access to the religious leader.

Over the years, he has developed close ties with conservative clerics and elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a connection that analysts say has strengthened his position within the system.

His name became public during the disputed 2009 presidential election, when reformist figures accused him of playing a role in supporting security measures that followed mass protests.

To his supporters, Mojtaba Khamenei represents the continuity of the ideological line established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and continued by his father. His rise, critics say, raises troubling questions about the concentration of power and the possibility of hereditary leadership in a state founded in rebellion against the monarchy.

This comes as Iran threatens to attack oil facilities in neighboring countries after Israel struck at least five energy fields in and around Tehran, choking the city in black smoke and raising fears that the conflict will cause a significant disruption to the world economy.

“If you can tolerate more than $200 per barrel of oil, play along,” an IRGC spokesman said Sunday.

The United States tried to calm markets by promising not to target Iran’s energy infrastructure as oil prices rose.

A new wave of attacks came to the Gulf from Iran on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait reporting attacks. Saudi Arabia said it seized 15 drones; Strikes in Bahrain caused “material damage” to an important desalination plant.

Saudi Civil Defense said that two people were killed and 12 people were injured when a bullet hit a residential area in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday.