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Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his successor as head of the Islamic Republic, is a discreet figure whose appointment signals a continuation of his father's hardline leadership.
Though he held no official post during his father's tenure, the 56-year-old was widely believed to be pulling strings behind the scenes at the heart of Iranian power.
He is regarded as close to conservatives, notably because of his ties with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which swiftly pledged allegiance to the new leader.
A known hardliner even before the Iran war, Mojataba is likely to seek revenge from the U.S. and Israel for the Feb. 28 strikes that killed his father, wife and daughter, along with many other relatives and close associates.
The Islamic Republic's third supreme leader also received endorsements from President Masoud Pezeshkian, the armed forces and the judiciary within hours of his appointment.
Long a discreet figure at official ceremonies and in the media, Mojtaba Khamenei's true influence has been the subject of intense speculation for years, both within Iran and across international diplomatic circles.
He was named supreme leader by Iran's top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, in a statement published shortly after midnight on Monday (8:30 p.m. GMT Sunday).
Though the Islamic Revolution had put an end to a centuries-old royal dynasty headed by the shah, the council’s choice of Mojtaba marks a return to the hereditary succession that Ali Khamenei had explicitly rejected in principle as recently as 2024.
Born on Sept. 8, 1969, in the holy city of Mashhad in eastern Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei is the only one of the late supreme leader's six children to hold a public position.
Ali Khamenei was killed aged 86 during the first wave of U.S.-Israeli air strikes on Tehran that triggered the war in the Middle East on Feb. 28.
A cleric defined by his salt-and-pepper beard and the black turban of a "seyyed"—denoting descent from the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh)—Mojtaba Khamenei is also a veteran of the 1980s Iran-Iraq War.
The United States imposed sanctions on him in 2019 during President Donald Trump's first term, saying Khamenei represented his father "despite never being elected or appointed to a government position aside from work in the office of his father."
Ali Khamenei had "delegated a part of his leadership responsibilities" to his son, "who worked closely" with Iranian security forces "to advance his father's destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives," the U.S. Treasury said at the time.
Opponents have accused the younger Khamenei of playing a role in the violent crackdown that followed the re-election of ultra-conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, which triggered a vast protest movement.
According to a Bloomberg investigation, citing anonymous sources and Western intelligence reports, Mojtaba Khamenei has amassed more than $100 million in wealth.
Money from oil sales had been channelled into investments in luxury British real estate, hotels in Europe and property in Dubai through shell companies in tax havens, according to the investigation.
On the religious front, Mojtaba Khamenei studied theology in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, where he also taught.
Though he had previously attained the rank of Hujjat al-Islam, he was elevated to the status of ayatollah—the higher rank held by both his father and revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini—upon his appointment as supreme leader.
Mojtaba Khamenei's wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, died in the U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed the former supreme leader, according to Iranian authorities.
Israel has issued a stark warning to the new supreme leader and whoever selected him, saying "the hand of the State of Israel will continue to follow any successor and anyone who seeks to appoint a successor."
The Assembly of Experts has 88 members, elected every eight years.
It has overseen two leadership transitions to date: this week’s selection and the 1989 appointment of Ali Khamenei following the death of Ruhollah Khomeini.
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