Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Iranian cleric Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been chosen as Iran’s next Supreme Leader, the country’s state media announced on March 8.
The appointment comes just over a week after the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, killing the ayatollah along with several senior officials and sparking a broadening war in the Middle East.
The surviving Khamenei, 56, was selected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body tasked with establishing the succession for the next supreme leader.
Mojtaba Khamenei, previously a teacher of Islamic theology, was not named by his father as an official successor — but has long been viewed as a probable candidate. Khamenei did not hold a formal role within the Iranian regime, but was closely connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Like his father, Mojtaba Khamenei is a hard-line cleric with deep influence in Iran’s security forces. He has been subject to sanctions by the U.S. since 2019. Khamenei is not expected to negotiate with the U.S. or de-escalate the expanding war.
U.S. President Donald Trump responded to reports of Khamenei’s likely appointment on March 5, calling it “unacceptable.”
“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me,” he told the news outlet Axios. “We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”
Trump told Axios that he should be directly involved in selecting Iran’s next leader, as he was following the U.S. attacks on Venezuela that ousted Nicolas Maduro.
Speaking to ABC News on March 8, Trump reiterated that any future leader of Iran would have to win his approval.
“If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long,” Trump said.
Israel has also promised to target any successor to the late ayatollah.
In the days since the initial strikes on the Iranian capital, Tehran has vowed revenge for its leader’s killing, unleashing retaliatory attacks against Israeli targets and U.S. military bases in the region. The escalation has drawn other Western countries into the conflict, with Ukraine lending its years of expertise in air defense against Iranian-made Shahed drones to its allies.
Russia, in turn, has reportedly been helping its strategic partner Iran to target U.S. forces in the Middle East. U.S. President Donald Trump has dismissed — though not denied these reports, insisting that Russia’s support makes no meaningful difference.
“It’s not doing much, if you take a look at what’s happened to Iran over the past week,” he said on March 7.
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