Our Middle East correspondent March 8, 2026
Iranian authorities confirmed a few hours ago that, Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been announced as the next Supreme Leader of the Islamic republic of Iran. The announcement that was expected within twenty four to forty eight hours after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khameni came early Monday March 9. Iranian time after almost a weeks deliberations by the assembly of experts.

The new 56 year old new supreme leader is expected to take a hardline stance against the US and Israel like his slain father. It is also notable that Mojtaba Khameni’s wife also was killed along with his father, sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law a few other members of his family.

According to sources, Mojtaba Khamenei, long known as the discreet and powerful son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was announced as Iran’s new Supreme Leader at a time when the country is at war and Israel has openly vowed to target any successor to his father. It is also reported that the Assembly of experts had selected Mojtaba Khamenei’s under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards.

For decades operating largely out of public view while building deep ties across the Islamic Republic’s political and security apparatus. Mojtaba Khameni’s rise marks another strong emergence of a figure who had already been widely regarded as one of the most influential actors behind the scenes of Iran’s ruling establishment.

Mojtaba, the second son of Ali Khamenei, has long been considered the only member of his family with clear political ambitions. His younger brother, Masoud, worked only in administrative roles within their father’s office, while his other two brothers and two sisters are not known to have held political or bureaucratic positions.

Born in 1969 in Mashhad, Mojtaba was educated at in Tehran’s prestigious Alavi High School, which produced many of the Islamic Republic’s elite, including former foreign minister Javad Zarif.