Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country's new supreme leader, state media reported on Sunday.
The announcement came after Iran's Assembly of Experts (the clerical body responsible for appointing the country's highest authority) cast a “decisive vote” in his favor. His father was killed in American and Israeli strikes last Saturday.
Mojtaba Khamenei had long emerged in Iranian political circles as a potential successor to his father. He was close to the late Ayatollah in his last years. Yet he never publicly addressed the speculation.
His appointment hands one of the world's most powerful religious offices to a member of the same family. Some observers have already drawn comparisons to the Pahlavi monarchy that ruled Iran before the 1979 revolution.
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Ayatollah Hosseinali Eshkevari, a member of the Assembly of Experts, hinted at the decision shortly before the formal announcement. “Khamenei's name will continue,” he said in a video shared on Iranian media. The gathering urged all Iranians – “especially the elite and intellectuals of seminaries and universities” – to unite behind the new leader.
The appointment puts Tehran on a collision course with Washington. Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded the right to approve the choice of Iran's supreme leader. He warned that whoever took the role was “not going to last long” without American consent. Iran rejected this demand outright. The White House had not publicly responded to the announcement at the time of publication.
Meanwhile, on Friday, exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi announced he had accepted the “call” to lead Iran. The eldest son of the last Shah is the most prominent figure in the Iranian opposition movement. His announcement has created a direct contest over who has legitimacy in Iran's eyes.
The Supreme Leader of Iran has final authority over all matters of state, ranking above the President.
