Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been chosen as his successor.
Members of the clerical body responsible for selecting Iran’s top authority announced the decision on Sunday, calling on Iranians to support him and preserve national unity.
In a statement carried by state media, the assembly said Khamenei had been elected by what it described as a “decisive vote.”
The body urged citizens across the country, “especially elites and intellectuals in seminaries and universities,” to swear allegiance to the new leadership and safeguard unity at a critical time for Iran.
The appointment was welcomed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are backed by the Iranian regime.
“We congratulate the Islamic Republic of Iran, its leaders and its people on the selection of Sayyid Mojtaba Khamenei as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution at this important and crucial moment,” the group said in a statement on Telegram.
He described his election as “a new victory for the Islamic Revolution and a resounding blow to the enemies of the Islamic Republic and the nation.”
The move could lead to a further escalation of the war, given that Donald Trump had already acknowledged that Mojtaba Khamenei was the most likely successor and made clear that he considered that outcome unacceptable.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s rise marks the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution that Iran’s supreme leadership has passed from father to son. It is a development that is likely to ignite debate within Iran over the emergence of a dynastic system in a state founded explicitly to overthrow post-shah hereditary rule.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled for 37 years, was killed in a US-Israeli attack on Tehran on February 28, the first day of the war with Iran.
Across Iran’s political and security establishment, officials quickly welcomed the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new supreme leader.
State media reported that leaders of Iran’s armed forces pledged allegiance to him, while the speaker of parliament praised the decision and described following Mojtaba Khamenei as a “religious and national duty.”
The country’s security chief said the new leader was capable of guiding Iran through the current delicate moment, and the Revolutionary Guards declared they were ready to follow him, indicating broad support from the country’s central institutions.
Trump said earlier on Sunday that Iran’s next supreme leader “wouldn’t last long” if Tehran didn’t get his approval first. He has called Mojtaba Khamenei an “unacceptable” choice.
The US president dismissed the prospect of Khamenei’s leadership and insisted that Washington should have a say in Iran’s future political direction.
Earlier in the day, in a post on
For many analysts, Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment is a symbolic move designed to make the regime still appear strong and determined not to give in to Western pressure.
The 56-year-old cleric has never held elected office or formally held a senior position within Iran’s government. He has spent much of his life at the center of power in Iran, remaining largely out of public view.
Born in 1969 in the northeastern city of Mashhad, Khamenei grew up in the political and clerical world that emerged after the 1979 revolution. As a young man he studied theology in the seminaries of Qom and reportedly participated in the final stages of the Iran-Iraq war.
Unlike many figures in Iran’s leadership, Khamenei never sought elected office or a prominent government role. Instead, he slowly became an influential presence within his father’s office, where he was widely seen as part of a small circle that managed political access to the supreme leader.
Over the years, he cultivated close relationships with conservative clerics and elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a connection that analysts say strengthened his position within the system.
His name came into public light during the disputed 2009 presidential election, when reformist figures accused him of playing a role in supporting the security crackdown that followed mass protests. But he has never publicly discussed the succession question.
For his followers, Mojtaba Khamenei represents continuity with the ideological line established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and maintained by his father. For critics, his rise raises uncomfortable questions about the concentration of power and the possibility of hereditary leadership in a state founded on a revolt against the monarchy.
Iran has threatened to attack oil facilities in neighboring countries after Israel attacked at least five energy sites in and around Tehran, choking the city in black smoke and raising fears that the conflict will result in significant disruption to the global economy.
“If you can tolerate oil at more than $200 a barrel, continue this game,” an IRGC spokesman said on Sunday.
The United States tried to calm markets as oil prices rose by promising not to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure.
A new wave of Iranian attacks hit the Gulf on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait reporting attacks. Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted 15 drones; while strikes in Bahrain caused “material damage” to a major desalination plant.
Two people were killed on Sunday and 12 others were injured after a projectile landed in a residential area in Al-Kharj, a city in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi civil defense said.
