Iran Names Khamenei’s Son As New Supreme Leader, State Media Report

DUBAI, March 8 (Reuters) – Iran’s Assembly of Experts appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new religious leader, replacing his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mojtaba, a mid-level cleric with close ties to the powerful Revolutionary Guard, has long been viewed by elements of Iran’s ruling establishment as a potential successor to his father, who was killed after the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran.

Although Iran’s dominant ideology frowns on the principle of hereditary succession, it has a strong following within the Guard and in the still-influential office of his dead father.

(Reporting by Elwely Elwelly, Jaidaa Taha and Ahmed Tolba; Editing by Diane Craft)