{"id":502764,"date":"2026-03-04T07:25:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/502764\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T07:25:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:25:18","slug":"ayatollah-khameneis-son-is-frontrunner-to-succeed-dad-as-irans-new-supreme-leader-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/502764\/","title":{"rendered":"Ayatollah Khamenei’s son is frontrunner to succeed dad as Iran’s new supreme leader: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

The son of\u00a0Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>\u00a0is the frontrunner to replace him as supreme leader, according to reports.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, is currently favored to take control of Iran by the country\u2019s Assembly of Experts, a powerful body of clerics that makes the decision, the\u00a0New York Times<\/a>\u00a0reported while citing sources close to the deliberations.<\/p>\n

Other outlets \u2013 including Israeli media and Iranian opposition channels \u2013 were reporting early Tuesday that Mojtaba had already been selected, though Iranian state media has not confirmed anything.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba Khamenei (center), son of Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was reportedly selected to replace him as supreme leader. picture alliance via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The report was widely being picked up by Israeli media but had not been confirmed by Iranian state mouthpieces.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba was at first believed to have been among the 40 top Iranian aides killed during the Saturday strike that took out Iran\u2019s highest-ranking cleric.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba was at first believed to have been among the 40 top Iranian aides killed during the Saturday strike that took out Tehran\u2019s highest-ranking cleric, his despotic 86-year-old father who<\/a> ruled over Iran with an iron grip for decades.<\/p>\n

But reports of his name being floated within leadership succession discussions indicate he is alive and well \u2013 and could be well on the way to furthering his father\u2019s cause of severely anti-western sentiments.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives his Friday prayer sermon at Tehran University in this video grab June 19, 2009. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Motjaba \u2014 the ayatollah\u2019s second-oldest son \u2014 has been known for his staunch adherence to his father\u2019s hardline conservatism and has close ties to Iran\u2019s notoriously brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military body, according to CNN.<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s coverage of the United States\u2019 airstrikes on Iran:<\/p>\n

He had no official role in his father\u2019s regime but was still sanctioned by the US in 2019.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s true Mojtaba is now leading Iran or about to, that appointment was unexpected.<\/p>\n

May 31, 2019 file photo shows, Son of Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba Khamenei, attends a demonstration to mark Jerusalem day in Tehran. NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s officials have traditionally looked down on family succession in its leadership \u2013 especially since the current regime seized power by toppling a kinship-fueled monarchy<\/a> in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he is elected, it suggests it is a much more hard-line Revolutionary Guard side of the regime that is now in charge,\u201d Johns Hopkins University expert on Iran, Vali Nasr, told the Times.<\/p>\n

Other experts said Mojtaba is the \u201cwisest pick\u201d because of how close he is with the highest levels of Iran\u2019s security and military apparatus through the Revolutionary Guard.<\/p>\n

A satellite image shows black smoke rising and heavy damage at Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei\u2019s compound, following strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran, in Tehran, Iran February 28, 2026. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is intimately familiar with running and coordinating security and military apparatuses,\u201d Iran political analyst Mehdi Rahmati said.<\/p>\n

Iran has currently been in the hands of a\u00a0three-man council<\/a>\u00a0run by two of Ali Khamenei\u2019s top henchmen who survived the strike, with speculation running wild about who would grab power in the vacuum left behind by the elderly cleric\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The Middle Eastern nation has been plunged into chaos since the strikes, with missiles continuing to fall across the country as it lashes back with rockets and drones at US interests across the region.<\/p>\n

The chaos has been compounded by the lack of clarity about who is now in charge. Ali Khamenei had not named a clear successor prior to his death, leaving the 88-member Assembly of Experts to make the selection.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s true Mojtaba is now leading Iran or about to, that appointment was unexpected. NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Whoever is picked would also need to be cleared by the nation\u2019s Guardian Council, which vets laws and leaders to make sure they are in good standing with strict Islamic codes.<\/p>\n

Those expectations made Mojtaba an unlikely choice, as the supreme leader serves as Iran\u2019s religious figurehead as well as the leader of the government.<\/p>\n

Mojtaba\u00a0has no serious religious credentials,\u00a0which under normal circumstances put him in the crosshairs of a Guardian Council veto,\u00a0according to the Wall Street Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His close association with his father \u2013 whose hardline policies and violent crackdown on Iranian protesters brought about the country\u2019s current predicament \u2013 were also viewed as a hindrance to his ascension to power.<\/p>\n

Iran has currently been in the hands of a\u00a0three-man council\u00a0run by two of Ali Khamenei\u2019s top henchmen who survived the strike. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cA portion of the public will react negatively and forcefully to this decision, and it will have a backlash,\u201d analyst Rahmati said.<\/p>\n

Still, others characterize<\/a> Mojtaba as a possibly \u201cextremely progressive\u201d pick who could \u201cmove to sideline the hard-liners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSee his appointment as a shedding of skin,\u201d said Abdolreza Davari, an Iranian politician who is close to Mojtaba, according to the Times.<\/p>\n

President Donald J. Trump oversees Operation Epic Fury at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, FL, March 1, 2026. White House<\/p>\n

How much real power Mojtaba would actually have either way remains unclear.<\/p>\n

Ali Khamenei ruled Iran for 37 years, during which time he was able to consolidate a sprawling cult and cadre of cronies insulating him from dissent.<\/p>\n

Experts have speculated that his successor is unlikely to be able to wield as much power himself and will instead serve as a figurehead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can almost certainly say that leadership will not be concentrated in one person,\u201d Ali Khamenei biographer Mehdi Khalaji told the Journal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next supreme leader will be mostly ceremonial.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The son of\u00a0Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei\u00a0is the frontrunner to replace him as supreme leader, according to reports. Mojtaba…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,38261,801,3,21,19,22,20,25,24,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-502764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ayatollah-khamenei","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa","18":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}