Iran’s new supreme leader is named as Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba – Iranian TV network reports

It has been reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, Mujtaba Khamenei, has been appointed as the new Supreme Leader of Iran.

Mojtaba, 56, the second eldest son of Ali Khamenei, has strong ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was chosen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts ‘under pressure from the Revolutionary Guard’, according to Iranian opposition publication Iran International.

Mojtaba is not a senior cleric, has never held office and has no official role in the regime.

However, he served in the Iranian armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war and is believed to have considerable influence behind the scenes. He has been touted for years as a possible successor to his father.

However, he was not included in the list of three senior clerics identified by Ali Khamenei last year.

And his father is said to have expressed opposition to his candidacy because it was similar to the hereditary rule the US-backed Shah monarchy had put in place before it was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

The transition from father to son is also viewed negatively in Shiite Muslim religious institutions in Iran.

But most of Iran’s top brass were wiped out in the recent conflict, and Mojtaba has close ties to the powerful Revolutionary Guard and the Basrji volunteer paramilitary force.

Mojtaba (pictured with his father) is not a senior cleric and has no official role in the regime

Despite being confirmed by the US in 2019, Mojtaba is said to run an investment empire worth more than £100 million, with access to luxury properties in North London and bank accounts in the UK, Switzerland, UAE and Liechtenstein.

Mojtaba is said to own 11 properties on The Bishops Avenue, an exclusive street in Hampstead, north London, also known as ‘Billionaires’ Row’.

The Ayatollah’s second son owns the properties through a network of shell companies, one of which is registered in the Isle of Man tax haven.

Under Iran’s Islamic tutelage system, the Supreme Leader must be a senior leader with significant political authority.

Although Mujtaba did not hold high-level political positions, he was educated alongside religious conservatives at Islamic theological schools in the Shiite holy city of Qom.

He was born in the holy city of Mashhad in 1969 and grew up while his father helped lead the opposition against the Shah.

Unlike Ali Khamenei’s wife, daughter, grandson, daughter-in-law and son-in-law, he survived the recent US-Israeli attacks.

The regime’s 88-person council is charged with appointing, monitoring and possibly dismissing the supreme leader.

They gathered in Qom on Tuesday to find a successor to Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli attacks on Saturday.

Attacks by Israel and the USA destroyed the building where the parliament was meeting. No information was given about possible loss of life.

Separate airstrikes were also carried out on Ferdowsi Square in central Tehran this afternoon; In the images, the injured were seen staggering among the rubble.

In recent years, the favorite to succeed the 86-year-old Supreme Leader had been hardline President Ibrahim Raisi, but he died in a helicopter crash in May 2024.

The latest bombing campaign comes after Donald Trump told Iran’s surviving leaders it was ‘too late’ to talk.

Mojtaba, 56, the second eldest son of Ali Khamenei, has strong ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Khamenei, who presided over a brutal regime that murdered thousands of its citizens, oppressed women and financed terrorist organizations, was killed Saturday morning.

Trump warned that the ‘hardest blows’ were yet to come as the conflict entered its fourth day and vowed retaliation after the US embassy in Saudi Arabia was attacked by drones.

The president also claimed that the first wave of attacks also destroyed Washington’s preferred successors to Khamenei.

He said the White House had shortlisted several preferred successors but stressed that the military action had been ‘so successful’ that it had eliminated not only the primary options but also the ‘second or third’ options.

Speaking to ABC News, Trump said, “The attack was so successful that it knocked out most of the candidates.”

Among the dead are Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to the regime, Revolutionary Guard Commander General Mohammed Pakpour and hard-line former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In a separate interview with the New York Times, Trump said he had “three very good options” for Iran’s next potential leader, but did not say who they were.

On Monday night, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told state television that the killing of the religious leader was a “religious crime” that would have serious consequences.

Iran continued to shake the Middle East with a series of attacks across the region.

A drone crashed into the US Consulate building in Dubai on Tuesday.

Smoke rises into the sky above Khamenei’s compound on Pasteur Street in the heart of Tehran

Israel struck and destroyed the Ayatollah’s compound (pictured) in an early morning raid

Videos posted on social media on Tuesday evening showed a large cloud of smoke rising from the building, which local officials said had been hit by a missile.

Dubai Media office said that no one was injured in the attack and the fire was extinguished.

The following statements were made in the statement: ‘Authorities in Dubai managed to extinguish a limited fire that broke out as a result of a drone targeting operation around the US Consulate in Dubai, and the incident did not result in any injuries.’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it appeared that the drone crashed into a parking lot adjacent to the consulate building close to the British embassy in Dubai.