Mojtaba Khamenei

Mojtaba Khamenei became Iran's third Supreme Leader on 9 March 2026, roughly a week after his father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in a joint Israeli-American airstrike on 28 February 2026 during the wider 2026 Iran war. The transition was the country's first hereditary transfer of supreme leadership, achieved after a chaotic interim period in which an Interim Leadership Council briefly governed under Iran's constitution, and rival clerics and IRGC-backed factions jockeyed for the role. According to Wikipedia's detailed account of the succession, the Assembly of Experts formally named him after IRGC commanders pressed members to back his candidacy.

Mojtaba had never held elected office before his appointment, but had spent years building influence inside his father's inner circle and cultivating close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Analysts quoted by Fox News describe him as likely to govern with a harder line than his father, particularly toward the United States and Israel amid the ongoing war. His first public message, delivered in writing rather than on video, promised continued military resistance — while unconfirmed reports of his own injuries during the war have left persistent questions about his health and whereabouts.