Iran has chosen a new Supreme Leader after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the first day of the war last weekend.Mojtaba Khamenei, the late Ali Khamenei’s son, has been announced as the new premier of Iran, according to Iranian state media. Mojtaba was chosen by the “assembly of experts”, a body of 88 Islamic scholars that have been selected by their loyalty to the regime.Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian, head of the judiciary Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and Alireza Arafi, head of the Basij, a paramilitary volunteer militia within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Alireza Arafi, have been chosen as the leadership council on a temporary basis.Mojtaba Khamenei will be Iran’s new supreme leader | GETTYThe trio had a selection from a six-man candidate shortlist.Khamenei is said to own high-end Kensington properties, totalling more than £50million in value. The apartments sit just a short distance from the Israeli embassy.Mojtaba is said to have owned these properties since 2014, according to Bloomberg, and is part of a much wider portfolio of UK property.Khamenei’s connection with the UK runs even deeper than a property portfolio. In 1998, he travelled to London with his wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, to undergo fertility treatment, with Khamenei eager for heirs.The treatment resulted in the birth of his only son, Bagher. Both Bagher and Zahra were killed along with Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes last weekend.President Trump insisted he should have a role in picking the next leader, Iran categorically rejected this suggestion.”The fate of dear Iran, which is more precious than life, will be determined solely by the proud Iranian nation, not by [Jeffrey] Epstein’s gang,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Friday.Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir previously said the candidate would be picked based on Ali Khamenei’s advice that any successor should be “hated by the enemy”.”Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” he said, merely days after Donald Trump said choosing Khamenei, 56, would be “unacceptable”, dismissed him as a “lightweight”.The death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was confirmed over the weekend | GETTY
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The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mojtaba in 2019, saying he represented the Supreme Leader in “an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position” aside from working in his father’s office.Its website said Khamenei had previously delegated some of his responsibilities to Mojtaba, who it said had worked closely with the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force and the Basij, a religious militia affiliated with the Guards, “to advance his father’s destabilising regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives”.Mojtaba was a particular target for criticism by protesters during unrest over the death of a young woman in police custody in 2022, after she was arrested for allegedly breaching the Islamic Republic’s strict dress codes.In 2024, a video was widely shared in which he announced the suspension of Islamic jurisprudence classes he was teaching at Qom, fuelling speculation about the reasons.Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will succeed his father | REUTERSThe supreme leader has the final say on matters of state, including foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme. Western powers want to prevent Tehran developing nuclear arms. Iran says its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only.Mojtaba could face opposition from Iranians who have shown they are ready to stage mass protests to press their demands for greater freedoms despite bloody crackdowns by the authorities.