Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had long been considered a contender for the country’s next supreme ruler – even 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 position.
For decades, American diplomats have referred to the younger Khamenei as “the power behind the robe,” despite him being a secretive figure within the Islamic Republic.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen publicly since February 28, when the Israeli airstrike on the supreme leader’s offices killed his 86-year-old father and his wife, Zahra Haddad Adel.
He has likely gone into hiding as US and Israeli airstrikes continue to hit Iran, although Iranian state media has not reported his whereabouts.
With his father and wife regarded by hardliners as martyrs in the war against the United States and Israel, the young Khamenei’s value likely improved among the aging clerics of the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, charged with selecting the country’s supreme leader.
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Iran’s supreme leader is at the heart of the country’s complex Shiite power-sharing theocracy and has the final say on all matters of state. He serves as commander-in-chief of the country’s army and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
The country’s incoming supreme leader will gain control of an Iranian army and an arsenal of highly enriched uranium that could be used to build a nuclear weapon, if he decides to do so.
He also assumes power in the midst of a war between the United States and Israel that seeks to eliminate the nuclear threat and military power of Iran, in the hope that the Iranian people will also rebel against the Iranian theocracy.
theocratic dynasty
Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment comes despite the paradox of a possible theocratic dynasty ruling a republic that was built in opposition to the hereditary monarchy of the previous Pahlavi dynasty.
Other contenders for the leadership included Alireza Arafi, a member of the triumvirate currently serving as interim leaders, Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, a representative of the most conservative wing of the Shiite clergy, and Hassan Khomeini, grandson of Ruhollah Khomeini.
Read moreA look at who the favorites are for Iran’s supreme leader
Born in 1969 in the city of Mashhad, about ten years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that would hit Iran, Khamenei grew up while his father agitated 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 division of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, several of whom rose to powerful intelligence positions within the force, likely with the backing of the Khamenei family.
After his father became supreme leader in 1989, Mojtaba Khamenei and his family soon had access to the billions of dollars and business assets spread across Iran’s numerous bonyads, or foundations funded by state industries and other wealth, that were once in the hands of the shah.
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His own power grew alongside his father’s, working at the heart of the supreme leader’s “Beyt” office in central Tehran, as “a combination of aide-de-camp, confidant, temple guardian and kingmaker,” according to United Against Nuclear Iran, a US-based organization.
“There is very little transparency in what ‘Beyt’ does, and his actions are based on many power games and clientelism,” Jonathan Piron, a historian specializing in Iran for the Etopia research center in Brussels, told FRANCE 24 in 2022.
“Mojtaba Khamenei was never elected; he was appointed to this position by his father, who wanted to surround himself with his most loyal followers. Critics consider him a corrupt figure who benefits from his position at the head of the Office of the Supreme Leader because he is the son of Ali Khamenei.”
Read moreIran postpones three-day funeral rites for late Ayatollah Khamenei
Khamenei’s critics have also denounced his lack of theological knowledge, as he only holds the title of “hojatoleslam”, an intermediate rank in the Shiite clergy.
According to Iran’s constitution, access to the highest office requires the rank of Ayatollah Marja (or “source of imitation”), being the director of a seminary, and demonstrating many years of experience in religious teaching.
A ‘forceful leader’
During his father’s rule, Khamenei used his proximity to the leadership to amass his own power.
US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks in the late 2000s suggested that he served as his father’s “chief guardian” and had been forming his own power base within the country.
Khamenei “is widely viewed within the regime as a capable and energetic leader and administrator who could one day succeed at least part of the national leadership; his father may also see him from that perspective,” a 2008 cable said, also noting his lack of theological qualifications and his age.
“However, due to his unparalleled skills, wealth and alliances, Mojtaba is viewed by several members of the regime as a plausible candidate for the shared leadership of Iran following the death of his father, whether that death is soon or years in the future,” he said.
The United States sanctioned him in 2019 during US President Donald Trump’s first term for working to “further his father’s destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives.”
More recently, Khamenei worked closely with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard that violently suppressed nationwide protests in January, the US Treasury said.
A Bloomberg investigation published in late January found that he has 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)
