Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader?
A power broker with deep Revolutionary Guard ties, the 56-year-old cleric takes command of a nation under fire after a week of devastating air strikes
The clerical body named the 56-year-old mid-ranking cleric, who has survived the US-Israeli air war on Iran, as successor more than a week after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an air strike, Iranian media reported.
A member of the council, Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, said in a video on Sunday that a candidate had been selected based on Khamenei’s guidance that Iran’s top leader should be “hated by the enemy”.
“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after US President Donald Trump said Mojtaba was an “unacceptable” choice for him.
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Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader
Mojtaba amassed power under his father as a senior figure close to the security forces and the vast business empire they control. He has opposed reformers seeking to engage with the West as it tries to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.