{"id":503802,"date":"2026-03-04T19:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/503802\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T19:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:57:10","slug":"son-of-irans-late-supreme-leader-is-a-possible-candidate-to-replace-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/503802\/","title":{"rendered":"Son of Iran’s late supreme leader is a possible candidate to replace him"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran\u2019s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a> has long been considered a contender to the post of the country\u2019s next paramount ruler \u2014 even before an Israeli strike killed his father at the start of the war last week<\/a> and despite the fact he\u2019s has never been elected or appointed to a government position. <\/p>\n

A secretive figure within the Islamic Republic, Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen publicly since Saturday, when the Israeli airstrike targeting the supreme leader\u2019s offices killed his 86-year-old father. Also killed were the younger Khamenei\u2019s wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, who came from a family long associated with the country\u2019s theocracy. <\/p>\n

Khamenei is believed to still be alive and likely has gone into hiding as American and Israeli airstrikes continue to pound Iran<\/a>, though state-run Iranian media have not reported on his whereabouts. <\/p>\n

Profile of Khamenei\u2019s son rises after airstrike<\/p>\n

Mojtaba Khamenei\u2019s name continues to circulate as a possible candidate to replace his father, something that had been criticized in the past as potentially creating a theocratic version of Iran\u2019s former hereditary monarchy. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: A son of Iran\u2019s late supreme leader is a possible candidate to replace his father as war rages\n <\/p>\n

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports a son of Iran\u2019s late supreme leader could replace him.<\/p>\n

But now with his father and wife considered by hard-liners as martyrs in the war against America and Israel, Khamenei\u2019s stock likely has risen with the aging clerics of the 88-seat Assembly of Experts who will select the country\u2019s next supreme leader. <\/p>\n

Whoever becomes the leader will gain control of an Iranian military now at war and a stockpile of highly enriched uranium that could be used to build a nuclear weapon \u2014 should he choose to decree it. <\/p>\n

Khamenei had occupied a similar role to that of Ahmad Khomeini, a son of Iran\u2019s first Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini \u2014 \u201ca combination of aide-de-camp, confidant, gatekeeper and power broker,\u201d according to United Against Nuclear Iran, a U.S.-based pressure group. <\/p>\n

Born into dissent<\/p>\n

Born in 1969 in the city of Mashhad, some 10 years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that would sweep Iran, Khamenei grew up as his father agitated against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. <\/p>\n

An official biography on Ali Khamenei\u2019s life recounts one moment when the shah\u2019s secret police, the SAVAK, broke into their home and beat the cleric. Woken up after, Mojtaba and the rest of Khamenei\u2019s children were told their father was going on vacation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I told them, \u2018There is no need to lie.\u2019 I told them the truth,\u201d the elder Khamenei was quoted as saying. <\/p>\n

After the fall of the shah, Khamenei\u2019s family moved to Tehran, Iran\u2019s capital. Khamenei would go on to fight in the Iran-Iraq war with the Habib ibn Mazahir Battalion, a division of Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard<\/a> that would see several of its members ascend to powerful intelligence positions within the force \u2014 likely with the backing of the Khamenei family. <\/p>\n

His father became supreme leader in 1989 \u2014 and soon Mojtaba Khamenei and his family had access to the billions of dollars and business assets spread across Iran\u2019s many bonyads, or foundations, funded from state industries and other wealth once held by the shah. <\/p>\n

Power rises with his father\u2019s<\/p>\n

His own power rose alongside his father\u2019s, working within his offices in downtown Tehran. U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks in the late 2000s began referring to the younger Khamenei as \u201cthe power behind the robes.\u201d One recounted an allegation that Khamenei actually tapped his own father\u2019s phone, served as his \u201cprincipal gatekeeper\u201d and had been forming his own power base within the country. <\/p>\n

Khamenei \u201cis widely viewed within the regime as a capable and forceful leader and manager who may someday succeed to at least a share of national leadership; his father may also see him in that light,\u201d a 2008 cable read, also noting his lack of theological qualifications and age. <\/p>\n

\u201cMojtaba is, however, due to his skills, wealth, and unmatched alliances, reportedly seen by a number of regime insiders as a plausible candidate for shared leadership of Iran upon his father\u2019s demise, whether that demise is soon or years in the future,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Khamenei has worked closely with Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, both with commanders of its expeditionary Quds Force and its all-volunteer Basij that violently suppressed nationwide protests in January, the U.S. Treasury has said. <\/p>\n

The United States sanctioned him in 2019 during the first term of U.S President Donald Trump over working to \u201cadvance his father\u2019s destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives.\u201d <\/p>\n

That includes allegations that Khamenei from behind the scenes supported the election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 and his disputed re-election in 2009 that sparked the Green Movement protests. <\/p>\n

Mahdi Karroubi, who was a presidential candidate in 2005 and 2009, denounced Khamenei as \u201ca master\u2019s son\u201d and alleged he interfered in both votes. His father reportedly at the time said Khamenei was \u201ca master himself, not a master\u2019s son.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powers of supreme leader at stake<\/p>\n

There has been only one other transfer of power in the office of supreme leader of Iran, the paramount decision-maker since the country\u2019s 1979 Islamic Revolution<\/a>. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini<\/a> died at age 86 after being the figurehead of the revolution and leading Iran through its eight-year war with Iraq<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Now the new leader will come on board after the 12-day war with Israel and as a U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is seeking to eliminate Iran\u2019s nuclear threat and military power, hoping also the Iranian people will rise up against the Iranian theocracy.<\/p>\n

The supreme leader is at the heart of Iran\u2019s complex power-sharing Shiite theocracy and has final say over all matters of state. He also serves as the commander-in-chief of the country\u2019s military and the Guard, a paramilitary force that the United States designated a terrorist organization in 2019<\/a>, and which his father empowered during his rule.<\/p>\n

The Guard, which has led the self-described \u201cAxis of Resistance,\u201d a series of militant groups and allies across the Middle East meant to counter the U.S. and Israel, also has extensive wealth and holdings in Iran. It also controls the country\u2019s ballistic missile arsenal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran\u2019s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[229486,180119,23,12,1070,793,801,228242,46718,229487,171178,188527,229484,3,2229,147914,188528,21,19,22,20,25,24,800,965,229485],"class_list":{"0":"post-503802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-ahmad-khomeini","9":"tag-ali-khamenei","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-elections","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-iran-war","16":"tag-islam","17":"tag-mahdi-karroubi","18":"tag-mahmoud-ahmadinejad","19":"tag-mohammad-reza-pahlavi","20":"tag-mojtaba-khamenei","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-religion","23":"tag-religion-and-politics","24":"tag-ruhollah-khomeini","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa","31":"tag-washington-news","32":"tag-world-news","33":"tag-zahra-haddad-adel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503802","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=503802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}