Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was considered a contender to become the country’s next supreme ruler – before an Israeli strike killed his father at the start of the war last week – although he has never been elected or appointed to a government post.
US diplomats have for decades referred to the younger Khamenei as “the power behind the clothes” despite being a secretive figure in the Islamic Republic.
Although Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since Saturday, when an Israeli airstrike targeting the supreme leader’s offices killed his 86-year-old father and his wife Zahra Haddad Adel, Khamenei is believed to be still alive.
He is in hiding because of US and Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran, although Iranian state media have not reported his whereabouts.
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Now that his father and wife are considered war martyrs against America and Israel, Khamenei is likely to choose the country’s next supreme leader along with the aging clergy of his stack 88-seat Assembly of Experts.
Iran’s supreme leader is at the heart of the country’s complex power-sharing Shiite theocracy and has the final say on all matters of state. He serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the country’s military and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
The country’s next supreme leader will gain control of the Iranian military and a stockpile of highly enriched uranium that could be used to build a nuclear weapon — if he chooses to rule it out.
He takes power in the midst of a US-Israeli war to try to eliminate Iran’s nuclear threat and military might, hoping the Iranian people will revolt against the Iranian theocracy.
A theocratic dynasty
Mojtaba Khamenei’s name has been circulating as a possible candidate to succeed his father, despite the paradox of a potentially theocratic dynasty ruling a republic that was first built against the hereditary monarchy of the Pahlavi dynasty.
Other contenders for the leadership include Alireza Arafi, a member of the triumvirate currently serving as interim leader, Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, a representative of the most conservative faction of the Shiite clerics, and Hassan Khomeini, grandson of Ruhollah Khomeini.
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Born in the city of Mashhad in 1969, Khamenei grew up around 10 years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that would sweep Iran, his father agitating against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
After the fall of the Shah, Khamenei’s family moved to Tehran, the capital of Iran.
Khamenei fought in the Iran-Iraq war with a section of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, many of whom rose to powerful intelligence positions within the force – possibly with the support of the Khamenei family.
After his father became supreme leader in 1989, Mojtaba Khamenei and his family soon had access to billions of dollars and business assets spread across Iran’s many bonyads, or foundations funded by state industries and other wealth once held by the shah.
‘Everything is speculation about Khamenei’s succession but the son is the favourite
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According to United Against Nuclear Iran, a US-based organization, his own power rose alongside that of his father, working as “a combination of aide-de-camp, confidante, temple guardian and kingmaker” at the heart of the supreme leader’s “Bate” office in downtown Tehran.
“There is very little transparency in what ‘Beyt’ does, and its actions are based a lot on power games and patronage,” Jonathan Piron, a historian specializing in Iran for the Etopia Research Center in Brussels, told France 24 in 2022.
“Moztaba Khamenei was never elected; he was appointed to the position by his father, who wanted to surround himself with his most loyal supporters. Critics consider him a corrupt figure who, being Ali Khamenei’s son, benefits from the position of head of the Supreme Leader’s Office.”
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Khamenei’s critics have decried his lack of theological knowledge because he only holds the title of “Hojatoleslam” — an intermediate rank among Shiite clerics.
According to Iran’s constitution, entry to the highest post requires the rank of ayatollah marzah (or “principle of imitation”), being the head of a seminary, and proving many years of religious teaching experience.
‘Compelling Leader’
During his father’s reign, Khamenei used his proximity to the leadership to amass power for himself.
US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks in the late 2000s suggested that he served as his father’s “principal gatekeeper” and was creating his own power base in the country.
Khamenei is “widely viewed as an able and energetic leader and manager who may one day achieve at least a share of the national leadership; even his father may see him in that light”, read a 2008 cable, noting also his lack of theological qualifications and age.
“However, because of Mojtaba’s skills, wealth and unparalleled alliances, many administration insiders see him as a plausible candidate for shared leadership of Iran after his father’s death, whether that death is imminent or in the future,” it said.
The United States sanctioned him in 2019 for working to “advance his father’s destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives” during US President Donald Trump’s first term.
More recently, Khamenei worked closely with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which violently suppressed nationwide protests in January, the US Treasury said.
A Bloomberg investigation published in late January found that he built a vast network of secret and lucrative investments through real estate acquisitions made through shell companies in London, Frankfurt and Dubai.
(France 24 with AP and Reuters)
(tags to translate)Middle East
