Mojtaba Khamenei is to replace his father as Iran’s new supreme leader, according to state media.
The 56-year-old was reportedly named by the deliberative Assembly of Experts on Sunday evening, more than a week after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an air strike.
Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, a member of the powerful council, said on Sunday that a candidate had been chosen on the late Khamenei’s guidance that Iran’s spiritual leader should be “hated by the enemy”.
Mojtaba’s appointment would signify that the hardliners are still firmly in charge in Iran. He has opposed reformers seeking to engage the West in talks to limit the country’s nuclear programme.
Mojtaba would also arrive having never held a formal position in Iran’s government. He has appeared at loyalist rallies, but has rarely spoken in public.
Critics have said Mojtaba lacks the clerical credentials to be supreme leader; his clerical rank of Hojjatoleslam is a notch below the rank of Ayatollah, the position held by his father and Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic.
The US imposed sanctions on the younger Khamenei in 2019, saying he represented the supreme leader in “an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position” aside from working in his father’s office.
This is a breaking story, more to follow…
