{"id":327633,"date":"2026-03-08T01:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T01:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/327633\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T01:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T01:42:16","slug":"the-secretive-son-of-ali-khamenei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/327633\/","title":{"rendered":"The secretive son of Ali Khamenei"},"content":{"rendered":"

His father, mother, wife and son were all killed in the opening strike of Operation Roaring Lion<\/a> a week ago. Yet three days after reports that he is expected to be chosen by the Assembly of Experts \u2014 an 88-member clerical body that under Iran\u2019s constitution appoints a supreme leader<\/a> when the position becomes vacant \u2014 as his father\u2019s successor as Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei<\/a> has still not appeared in public or even issued a statement. Nor has Iran\u2019s ayatollah-led regime made any formal announcement.<\/p>\n

All of this comes against the clear possibility that the IDF will attempt to eliminate him as well, along with statements by President Donald Trump that the selection of Khamenei\u2019s son \u2014 which would be seen as continuing his father\u2019s hardline path \u2014 would be unacceptable to him.<\/p>\n

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3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05de\u05d5\u05d2'\u05ea\u05d1\u05d0<\/a>\"\u05de\u05d5\u05d2'\u05ea\u05d1\u05d0<\/p>\n

Mojtaba Khamenei and his father, Ali Khamenei <\/p>\n

(Photo: AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi, AFP PHOTO\/ HO\/KHAMENEI.IR )<\/p>\n

For now, Mojtaba Khamenei\u2019s fate remains unclear. According to reports, however, he survived last Saturday\u2019s attack in which his father, Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, was killed at his office compound in Tehran. Also killed in the strike, according to the reports, were Mojtaba\u2019s wife, Zahra Adel, as well as his son and mother.<\/p>\n

The compound was attacked again today by a large Israeli Air Force formation of 50 fighter jets, this time to destroy the massive underground bunker beneath it. The strike this morning came after Israel received intelligence indicating that at least one individual \u2014 a very senior figure in the Iranian regime \u2014 was inside the bunker at the time.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba, 56, is considered part of the same ultraconservative camp as his father. Among other positions, he has supported suppressing regime opponents inside Iran and pursuing a hawkish, confrontational policy toward external enemies.<\/p>\n

He is a midranking cleric who teaches Shiite theology at a seminary in the city of Qom, the center of Iran\u2019s religious life. Although he has never held an official position in the regime, he is widely seen as wielding significant influence and has cultivated close ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran\u2019s powerful military and political force.<\/p>\n

Analysts outside Iran have previously described him as something of a gatekeeper in his father\u2019s inner circle. In 2019, the United States imposed sanctions on him. At the time, Washington said that although he held no official role, he still \u201crepresents\u201d the supreme leader and assists him in destabilizing the region.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, it was reported that Israeli officials believe Khamenei\u2019s son is expected to be selected as his father\u2019s successor by the Assembly of Experts. Israel bombed a building belonging to the body in the city of Qom the same day, but Iran said it was empty and that the council\u2019s deliberations were being conducted virtually.<\/p>\n

In any case, although Iran International \u2014 an opposition television channel broadcasting from abroad \u2014 claimed that evening that Mojtaba had in fact been chosen, and the New York Times shortly afterward reported that he was the leading candidate, there has been no sign since that a formal decision has been made, or at least publicly announced. The Times reported at the time that members of the Assembly of Experts feared that such an announcement would make Khamenei\u2019s son a prominent target for elimination by the Israeli Air Force.<\/p>\n

The IDF destroyed Khamenei\u2019s underground bunker<\/p>\n

(Video: IDF)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Selecting him would likely be seen as a defiant message to the United States and the West \u2014 a continuation of the hardline path of his father, who ruled Iran with an iron hand for 36 years. Analysts say such a move would also signal the firm grip on power held by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. \u201cMojtaba enjoys strong support from the Revolutionary Guards, particularly among the younger and more hardline generation,\u201d Kasra Aarabi, a researcher specializing in the Revolutionary Guards at the Washington-based group United Against Nuclear Iran, told Reuters.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if Mojtaba is alive, there is a strong chance he will succeed his father,\u201d she added, describing him as someone who even before his father\u2019s assassination effectively functioned as a kind of \u201cmini\u2013supreme leader\u201d because of his influence and ties with the Guards.<\/p>\n

As noted, Mojtaba has never held an official role in the Iranian regime. And although his name has often been mentioned as a potential successor to his father, until recently he was not seen as the leading candidate \u2014 largely because his appointment would be perceived as transferring power from father to son, reminiscent of the monarchy that Iran overthrew in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba also holds the religious title Hojjat al-Islam \u2014 one rank below the senior clerical title of ayatollah \u2014 and therefore lacks, in the view of many, the high religious authority expected of a supreme leader. However, that does not appear to be a strict requirement. His father, Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini \u2014 the leader of the Islamic Revolution \u2014 in 1989, also did not hold the highest clerical title required under the constitution at the time and the constitution was amended to allow his appointment.<\/p>\n

Although Mojtaba was not previously seen as the most prominent candidate, his father\u2019s assassination and his father\u2019s elevation to martyr status among Iran\u2019s ultraconservative camp \u2014 as well as the deaths of his wife and son \u2014 may have strengthened his standing within that camp. The New York Times also reported, citing several Iranian sources, that the Revolutionary Guards had pressed for Mojtaba to be chosen as successor.<\/p>\n

If selected, Khamenei\u2019s son would instantly become the most powerful figure in the regime. Under Iran\u2019s constitution, the supreme leader is a Shiite cleric who is not merely a \u201cspiritual\u201d authority but holds the final say over all matters of government \u2014 from the military and security establishment to foreign and domestic policy. He is the commander in chief of Iran\u2019s armed forces, and the Revolutionary Guards answer directly to him. The position was created by Khomeini based on his radical doctrine that Shiite clerics \u2014 the ayatollahs \u2014 should rule until the arrival of the Mahdi, a messianic figure in Islamic belief.<\/p>\n

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3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05de\u05d5\u05d2'\u05ea\u05d1\u05d0<\/a>\"\u05de\u05d5\u05d2'\u05ea\u05d1\u05d0<\/p>\n

Mojtaba Khamenei <\/p>\n

(Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader\/WANA)<\/p>\n

Mojtaba was born in 1969 in the city of Mashhad, about a decade before the Islamic Revolution. He is the second of six children of Ali Khamenei, who at the time was a close ally of Khomeini and helped organize protests against the shah. In his father\u2019s biography, Khamenei recounts the moment when the shah\u2019s secret police, SAVAK, raided the family home and beat him. He described how, when Mojtaba and his siblings awoke, the agents told them their father was \u201cgoing on vacation.\u201d Khamenei wrote: \u201cI told them, \u2018There is no need to lie.\u2019 I told them the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the fall of the shah in 1979, the Khamenei family moved to the capital, Tehran, where Mojtaba attended the Alavi High School alongside the sons of other senior figures in the newly established Islamic Republic. After finishing high school, Mojtaba joined the Revolutionary Guards in 1987 and fought in the final stages of the Iran-Iraq War, which ended in 1988. He served in the Habib ibn Mazahir Battalion, a unit that later produced several senior figures in the Guards.<\/p>\n

Since his father became supreme leader in 1989, Mojtaba has continued to cultivate ties with the Revolutionary Guards, while benefiting from access opened to him and his family to a multibillion-dollar network of business assets spread across foundations throughout Iran. These foundations are funded by state industries and by wealth that once belonged to the shah. Like his father, Mojtaba studied in the religious seminaries of Qom and now teaches there himself, a role that has also allowed him to build ties with Iran\u2019s clerical establishment.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba married Zahra Adel, the daughter of a prominent conservative Iranian politician, further strengthening his connections to the conservative establishment of the ayatollah regime. Despite his considerable influence, Khamenei\u2019s son has largely operated behind the scenes and never held an official government position. He worked in his father\u2019s offices in central Tehran, and in the late 2000s, during the release of WikiLeaks documents, U.S. diplomatic cables described him as a \u201cpower behind the cloak.\u201d One cable even included a claim that he had tapped his father\u2019s phone and was cultivating a power base of his own within the regime. <\/p>\n

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3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05e7\u05d5\u05dd\"<\/a>\"\u05e7\u05d5\u05dd\"<\/p>\n

A funeral for one of the war\u2019s dead in Qom <\/p>\n

(Photo: Mehdi ALAVI \/ ISNA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Khamenei\u2019s son, according to a 2008 cable, \u201cis perceived within regime circles as a determined and capable leader and manager who may one day become at least part of the national leadership; his father may also view him in this light.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cable noted his young age and lack of senior religious authority but added that \u201cdue to his abilities, wealth and powerful alliances, Mojtaba is reportedly seen by several figures within the regime as a plausible candidate for a joint leadership in Iran upon his father\u2019s death, whether that occurs soon or many years from now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mojtaba has rarely made headlines in the Iranian media. Among the few instances were accusations from figures in the reformist camp \u2014 politicians who support the principles of the Islamic Revolution but favor greater cooperation with the West and a moderation of domestic social repression \u2014 that he intervened in the 2005 presidential election. They alleged that he worked with religious leaders and the Revolutionary Guards to help secure the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who at the time was a relatively little-known candidate.<\/p>\n

Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist politician and one of Ahmadinejad\u2019s rivals in that election, described Mojtaba as \u201cthe leader\u2019s son\u201d interfering in the vote. The supreme leader himself defended his son, saying at the time: \u201cHe is a leader, not the son of a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His father, mother, wife and son were all killed in the opening strike of Operation Roaring Lion a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-327633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}