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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Mojtaba Khamenei named Iran''s next supreme leader
2026-03-09
[NYPOST] Mojtaba Khamenei — the son of slain Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — has been tapped as the regime's next supreme leader, Iranian state media announced Sunday.

The 56-year-old new leader — who has been dismissed by President Trump as a ''lightweight'' — was chosen by the nation's elite clerical panel known as the Assembly of Experts just eight days after his 86-year-old father was killed in US-Israeli strikes on his Tehran compound during Operation Epic Fury.

Other strikes in the joint military attack also killed around 40 other high-ranking Islamic Republic leaders.

Mojtaba's wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, who came from a family long associated with the country's theocracy, was also killed in the strikes as were other family members.

''By a decisive vote, the Assembly of Experts, appointed Ayatollah Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei as the third Leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,'' the assembly said in a statement.

While Mojtaba has been the favored successor of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Trump condemned the likely appointment as ''unacceptable'' for the US and vowed it would not bring an end to the war.

More hardline than his father, Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment signals defiance and revenge

[IsraelTimes] Successor and son of Iran’s slain supreme leader will ‘have no choice’ but to expand repression, even if war ends, official says, warning world ‘will miss the era of his father’, a move regional officials say is a direct rebuke to US President Donald Trump, who had declared the son “unacceptable.”

Analysts say the choice of Mojtaba, a deeply hardline cleric whose wife, mother and other family members were also killed in US–Israeli strikes, sends an unequivocal message: Iran’s leadership has rejected any prospect of compromise to preserve the system and sees no path forward except confrontation, revenge and endurance.

According to insiders, Mojtaba will face immense internal and external strain from a disaffected population and an escalating conflict, but is expected to move swiftly to consolidate power.
Related:
Mojtaba Khamenei 03/08/2026 Iran's favored next supreme leader wounded in Israeli air attack: reports
Mojtaba Khamenei 03/07/2026 War in Iran: Desperately seeking supreme leader who can survive the crown
Mojtaba Khamenei 03/04/2026 Kurds could begin ground operation in Iran within days 'after being secretly armed by US for MONTHS' - DM live updates

Related:
Ali Khamenei 03/08/2026 ‘Knew they were next’: Hezbollah rearmed for months after concluding war inevitable
Ali Khamenei 03/08/2026 Drone downed over Sulaimani, pro-Iran group claims attack; drone and missile attacks killed 2 Saturday night
Ali Khamenei 03/08/2026 Senior Iranian leader issues chilling warning to Trump following continued US-Israeli air strikes

Related:
Assembly of Experts: 2026-03-07 War in Iran: Desperately seeking supreme leader who can survive the crown
Assembly of Experts: 2026-03-04 Kurds could begin ground operation in Iran within days 'after being secretly armed by US for MONTHS' - DM live updates
Assembly of Experts: 2026-03-04 Iran's new supreme leader is named as Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba - Iranian TV network reports
Related:
Zahra Haddad Adel 03/08/2026 Iran's favored next supreme leader wounded in Israeli air attack: reports

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