Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been elected as the country’s new Supreme Leader following his father’s death in a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike on Tehran on February 28, 2026. Multiple sources, including Iran International and NDTV, confirm that the Assembly of Experts chose Mojtaba as the next leader on March 4, 2026, under significant pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). At 56 years old, Mojtaba is now the highest authority in Iran’s theocratic system, assuming control over the military, judiciary, and all state affairs.
Born on September 8, 1969, in Mashhad, Mojtaba grew up during the revolutionary movement against the Shah. He later studied under prominent conservative clerics in Qom, including Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, though he holds only mid-ranking clerical status and is not recognized as an ayatollah. Despite never holding elected office, he has long been a powerful behind-the-scenes figure, managing the Office of the Supreme Leader and maintaining close ties with the IRGC. He served in the Habib Battalion during the Iran-Iraq War and played a key role in suppressing the 2009 Green Movement protests.
Mojtaba’s appointment marks a controversial shift toward dynastic succession in a system that officially rejects hereditary rule. His selection has raised concerns both within Iran’s clerical establishment and internationally, particularly given that Ali Khamenei reportedly excluded him from a list of potential successors prepared in 2025. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Mojtaba in 2019, citing his influence in internal security and regional operations, while investigations have linked him to a vast offshore financial network, including luxury properties in London and Dubai.
His wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, daughter of former parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, was reportedly killed in the same strike that claimed the lives of Ayatollah Khamenei, his daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, and wife Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh. Mojtaba’s rise to power now places him at the center of Iran’s response to ongoing regional tensions, with far-reaching implications for the country’s domestic and foreign policy.