Iran’s influential Assembly of Experts has reportedly selected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as his successor, according to Iran International, which cited informed sources. The move is said to have been made under pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
However, The New York Times reported that senior clerics responsible for choosing the next supreme leader were still deliberating as of Tuesday. While Mojtaba Khamenei had emerged as the leading candidate, no official announcement had been made.
Assembly of Experts meets amid crisis
According to The New York Times, citing three Iranian officials familiar with the discussions, the 88-member Assembly of Experts held two virtual meetings on Tuesday — one in the morning and another in the evening — to deliberate on the succession.
The clerics were reportedly considering announcing Mojtaba Khamenei as early as Wednesday morning. However, some members expressed reservations, fearing that naming him could make him a direct target for the United States and Israel. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
Israel also reportedly struck a building in Qom, one of Shiite Islam’s main religious centres, where the assembly had originally planned to meet. Iran’s Fars News Agency later said the building was empty at the time of the strike.
The Assembly of Experts is constitutionally tasked with appointing, supervising and, if necessary, dismissing the supreme leader. This would be only the second time in the Islamic Republic’s 47-year history that the body has selected a leader. In 1989, it chose Ali Khamenei following the death of Ruhollah Khomeini.
IRGC backing and hardline signals
The New York Times reported that the IRGC pushed strongly for Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment, arguing that he has the experience needed to guide Iran through the current crisis following US-Israeli strikes that killed his father.
“Mojtaba is the wisest pick right now because he is intimately familiar with running and coordinating security and military apparatuses,” Tehran-based analyst Mehdi Rahmati told the newspaper. “He was already in charge of this.”
Vali Nasr, an Iran expert at Johns Hopkins University, described Mojtaba as a surprising but revealing choice.
“He was expected to become the successor for a long time,” Nasr said. “But for the past two years it seemed to have fallen off the radar. If he is elected, it suggests the more hardline Revolutionary Guard faction of the regime is now in control.”
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, is known for his close ties with the IRGC and has long operated behind the scenes within the Office of the Supreme Leader.
Public backlash and reformist concerns
Rahmati warned that Mojtaba’s elevation could trigger domestic backlash.
“A portion of the public will react negatively and strongly to this decision, and it could lead to backlash,” he said.
Supporters of the government may view his leadership as a continuation of a leader they consider martyred, while critics may see the move as further entrenching a system accused of violently suppressing protests in recent months.
Other reported contenders include Ali Reza Arafi, a member of the three-person transition council, and Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Both are seen as relatively moderate figures, with Hassan Khomeini viewed as close to Iran’s sidelined reformist camp, according to The New York Times.
Abdolreza Davari, a politician close to Mojtaba Khamenei, told the newspaper that if he succeeds his father, he could pursue reforms similar to those undertaken by Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman.
“He is extremely progressive and will move to sideline the hardliners,” Davari said in a text message before the war. “See his appointment as a shedding of skin.”
Who is Mojtaba Khamenei?
Born in 1969 in Mashhad, Mojtaba Khamenei grew up during the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He later studied in Tehran and Qom under conservative clerics, including Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi.
Although he is a mid-ranking cleric and not an ayatollah, Mojtaba has long been regarded as one of the most influential figures within Iran’s power structure. Analysts often compare his role to that of Ahmad Khomeini, who served as a key gatekeeper to his father in the early years of the Islamic Republic.
His influence is closely tied to longstanding relationships within the IRGC. Mojtaba served in the Habib Battalion during the Iran-Iraq War and built connections with security and intelligence officials who later rose to prominence.
In 2019, the United States sanctioned Mojtaba Khamenei under an executive order targeting individuals linked to the Supreme Leader. At the time, the US Treasury said Ali Khamenei had delegated certain aspects of his authority to his son, despite Mojtaba holding no elected office.
Constitutional hurdles and interim mechanism
Iran’s constitution requires the supreme leader to be a senior cleric with recognised religious authority as well as political competence. Mojtaba currently does not hold the rank of ayatollah, and hereditary succession remains controversial in a system founded in opposition to monarchy.
Following Ali Khamenei’s death, senior official Ali Larijani said an interim leadership council — consisting of the president, the judiciary chief and a jurist from the Guardian Council — would oversee governance until a new supreme leader is formally chosen.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, speaking in Washington, said many figures previously considered potential Iranian leaders had been killed in recent strikes.
“Pretty soon we’re not going to know anybody,” he said.
Asked about a worst-case scenario, Trump added: “I guess the worst case would be we do this and somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person. That could happen. We don’t want that to happen.”
