{"id":523368,"date":"2026-03-08T22:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T22:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/523368\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T22:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T22:50:14","slug":"iran-names-mojtaba-khamenei-former-rulers-son-as-new-supreme-leader-state-media-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/523368\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran names Mojtaba Khamenei, former ruler\u2019s son, as new supreme leader, state media report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mojtaba Khamenei, centre, the son of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, participates in the annual Quds Day rally in Tehran, in May, 2019.ROUZBEH FOULADI\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Iran on Monday named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader, signalling that hardliners remain firmly in charge in Tehran a week into its conflict with the United States and Israel.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba, a mid-ranking cleric with influence inside Iran\u2019s<\/a> security forces and vast business networks under his father, had been seen as a front-runner in the lead up to the vote by the assembly, a body of 88 clerics charged with choosing the new leader after Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy a decisive vote, the Assembly of Experts, appointed Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei as the third Leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,\u201d the assembly said in a statement issued just after midnight Tehran time.<\/p>\n

The position gives Mojtaba the final say in all matters of state in the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba\u2019s appointment will likely draw the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>, who said on Sunday that Washington should have a say in the selection. \u201cIf he doesn\u2019t get approval from us, he\u2019s not going to last long,\u201d he told ABC News. Israel, ahead of the announcement, threatened to target whoever was chosen.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba\u2019s father, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was killed in one of the first strikes launched against Iran more than a week ago.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military on Sunday reported a seventh American has died from wounds sustained during Iran\u2019s initial counterattack a week ago, a day after Trump presided over the return to the United States of the remains of the six others who died. The U.S.-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran\u2019s UN ambassador.<\/p>\n

As Trump pressed for an \u201cunconditional surrender,\u201d Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran\u2019s parliament speaker, said Tehran was not seeking a ceasefire to the war and would punish aggressors.<\/p>\n

Israel continued to target senior Iranian figures, including Abolqasem Babaian, the recently appointed head of the military office of the supreme leader, saying he was killed in a Saturday strike.<\/p>\n

As fighting escalated on day nine of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, thick black smoke hung over Tehran on Sunday, residents said, after strikes on oil storage facilities had lit up the night sky with plumes of orange flame.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the large-scale attack marked a \u201cdangerous new phase\u201d of the conflict and amounted to a war crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy targeting fuel depots, the aggressors are releasing hazardous materials and toxic substances into the air,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n

Conflict in Persian Gulf threatens essential desalinated water supply<\/a><\/p>\n

What six Iranians in Canada are feeling, in their own words<\/a><\/p>\n

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters the depots were used to fuel Iran\u2019s war effort, including producing or storing propellant for ballistic missiles. \u201cThey are a legal military target,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would press on with the assault and strike Iran\u2019s rulers \u201cwithout mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an organized plan with many surprises to destabilize the regime and enable change,\u201d he said in a video statement.<\/p>\n

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner will visit Israel on Tuesday, according to Axios, citing a senior U.S. official.<\/p>\n

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he was not seeking negotiations to end the conflict, which has driven up global energy prices, disrupted business and snarled air travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, I don\u2019t think there will be anybody left maybe to say, \u2019We surrender,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Mojtaba Khamenei, centre, the son of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-523368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-headlines","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-news","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-top-news","53":"tag-top-stories","54":"tag-topnews","55":"tag-topstories","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}