Iran’s ‌Assembly of Experts has named ​Mojtaba Khamenei ⁠to replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ‌as the country’s new supreme ‌leader, state ‌media reported ⁠on Sunday (March 8, 2026).

Mr. Mojtaba, a ⁠mid-ranking cleric with close ties to the powerful ​Revolutionary ‌Guards, had long been viewed by elements of Iran’s ruling ‌establishment as a ​potential successor to his father, who ⁠was killed after the United ‌States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

His wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, daughter of a former speaker of parliament, also died in the U.S.-Israeli strikes according to Iranian authorities.

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Although Iran’s ruling ideology frowns on the principle ‌of hereditary succession, he ​has a powerful following within ⁠the Guards and his dead ⁠father’s still-influential office. 

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, “is appointed and introduced as the third leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the decisive vote of the respected representatives of the Assembly of Experts”, the clerical body said in a statement.

It said that the body “did not hesitate for a minute” in choosing a new leader, despite “the brutal aggression of the criminal America and the evil Zionist regime”.

U.S. President Donald Trump has previously dismissed the younger Khamenei as a “lightweight”, and insisted again on Sunday (March 8, 2026) that he should have a say in the new leader’s appointment.

“If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long,” he told ABC News before the announcement was made.

But Tehran’s top diplomat said that the decision was Iran’s alone, adding it would “allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs”.

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi went on to demand Mr. Trump “apologise to people of the region” for starting the war.

Israel’s military had previously warned any successor that “we will not hesitate to target you”.

Iran Guards say ‘ready for complete obedience’ to Mojtaba Khamenei

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards pledged allegiance on Sunday (March 8, 2026) to the country’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, after he was appointed his father’s successor by the Assembly of Experts.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps… is ready for complete obedience and self-sacrifice in carrying out the divine commands of the Guardian Jurist of the time, His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei”, the Guards said in a statement.

Inputs from Reuters, AFP

Mojtaba Khamenei has reportedly been chosen as Iran’s next Supreme Leader, state media reported on Sunday (March 8, 2026)

The announcement by the Iran’s Assembly ​of ⁠Experts came just over a week after his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death on February 28, 2026 in joint strikes by Israel and the U.S.

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The 56-year-old mid-ranking cleric, who has survived the U.S.-Israeli air war ​on Iran, was named as the successor after the council had more or less reached a “majority consensus”. Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, said in a video on Sunday (March 8, 2026) that a candidate had been selected based on Khamenei’s guidance that Iran’s top leader should be “hated by the enemy”.

Also Read | A look at some of the contenders to be Iran’s supreme leader after the killing of Khamenei

Who is Mojtaba Khamenei? 

Mojtaba Khamenei is the second son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh. He was born on September 6, 1969, in Mashhad, a major Shia religious centre in northeastern Iran. He has five siblings — three brothers and two sisters. 

Childhood amidst father’s revolution

Mr. Mojtaba spent most of his childhood amid his father’s active resistance against the Shah of Iran’s monarchy, which eventually led to the election of Ali Khamenei as the country’s Supreme Leader and the exercise of significant political and military power. 

With his father repeatedly being arrested by SAVAK(the Shah’s secret police), much of Mr. Mojtaba’s childhood was spent in frequent raids and turmoil.

After the 1979 revolution, the family moved to Tehran, where Mr. Mojtaba attended the prestigious Alavi High School.

He also studied under religious conservatives in the seminaries of Qom, Iran’s center of Shi’ite theological learning, and has the clerical rank ​of Hojjatoleslam.

Military life 

Mr. Mojtaba joined the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) soon after completing his education and reportedly formed lifelong ties with comrades who later went on to hold high posts in the Iranian military establishment. 

He also served in the Habib Battalion during the final years of the Iraq-Israel war of 1987-88. 

Shadow power

Mr. Mojtaba is not considered a major leader in the Iranian establishment or a high-ranking religious scholar. He has never been elected and holds no formal government post. He has appeared at loyalist rallies, but has rarely spoken in public. However, he is widely believed to have managed the Office of the Supreme Leader and has been reportedly “gatekeeping” it due to his deep ties with the IRGC and the Intelligence services. 

He has also opposed reformers seeking to engage with the West ‌as it tries to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mr. 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 Mr. 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”.

What does his succession mean for Iran? 

The selection of Mr. Mojtaba is historic because Iran’s establishment has long rejected the idea of hereditary succession from father to son. This is also viewed as unfavourable by Shiite clerics. Thus, his appointment will be a departure from traditional political and religious norms. 

Mr. 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.

He was widely believed to have been behind the sudden rise of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was elected president in 2005. He also backed Ahmadinejad in 2009 when he won a second term in a disputed election which ‌resulted in anti-government protests that were violently suppressed by the Basij and other security forces.

Mr. Mojtaba’s appointment as the Supreme Leader will mean a continuation of the late Ali Khamenei’s legacy, in a sign that hardliners ‌were still firmly in charge.

With inputs from Reuters