The younger Khamenei was named supreme leader by the top clerical body the Assembly of Experts in a statement published shortly after midnight on Monday in Iran.
Other contenders for the top position had included Alireza Arafi, one of the three members of the interim council running the country, hardliner Mohsen Araki, and even Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic republic in 1979.
But ultimately the assembly settled on Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, opting for the kind of hereditary transition that his father had rejected on principle in 2024. The Islamic revolution had put an end to a multi-century royal dynasty headed by the shah.
Born on September 8, 1969, in the holy city of Mashhad in eastern Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei is one of six children of the late supreme leader.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed aged 86 just over a week ago in Tehran during the first wave of US-Israeli air strikes that triggered the war in the Middle East.
Because of his discretion at official ceremonies and in the media, Mojtaba Khamenei's true influence has been the subject of intense speculation for years among the Iranian population as well as in diplomatic circles.
He is the only child of the former supreme leader to hold a public position, despite having no official post.
The cleric, who has a salt-and-pepper beard and the black turban of the "seyyed", descendants of the Prophet Mohammed, has been presented by some as acting behind the scenes to pull strings at the heart of power in Iran.
He is regarded as close to conservatives, notably because of his ties with the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the Islamic republic's military.
That relationship dates back to his service in a combat unit at the end of the war between Iraq and Iran that lasted from 1980 to 1988.
- Security force links -
The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mojtaba Khamenei in 2019 during President Donald Trump's first term, saying he represented the supreme leader "despite never being elected or appointed to a government position aside from work in the office of his father".
Ali Khamenei had "delegated a part of his leadership responsibilities" to his son, "who worked closely" with Iranian security forces "to advance his father's destabilising regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives", the Treasury said.
Opponents have notably accused him of playing a role in the violent crackdown that followed the re-election of ultra-conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, which triggered a vast protest movement.
According to an investigation by the Bloomberg news organisation, which cited anonymous sources and Western intelligence agency reports, Mojtaba Khamenei has amassed wealth estimated at more than $100 million.
Money from oil sales had been channelled into investments in luxury British real estate, hotels in Europe and property in Dubai through shell companies in tax havens, according to the investigation.
On the religious front, Mojtaba Khamenei studied theology in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, where he also taught.
He attained the rank of Hujjat al-Islam, a title given to mid-ranking clerics, below that of Ayatollah held by his father and by revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini.
His wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, daughter of a former speaker of parliament, also died in the US-Israeli strikes that killed the supreme leader, according to Iranian authorities.
Israel has issued a stark warning to the new supreme leader and whoever selected him, saying "the hand of the State of Israel will continue to follow any successor and anyone who seeks to appoint a successor".
The Assembly of Experts has 88 members who are elected every eight years.
It has only overseen one leadership transition process to date, when Khamenei was selected in 1989 following the death of Khomeini.
Trump says new Iran leader won't last long without his approval
Tehran (AFP) Mar 8, 2026 -
US President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that Iran's next supreme leader would not last long without his approval, as Tehran prepared to reveal the successor to the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Nine days into the war that killed the supreme leader, three members of Iran's Assembly of Experts said the organisation had chosen a successor, but several hours after those statements no name had been revealed.
Hossein Redaei, a member of the body, said it had gathered the votes for the next supreme leader, but said it had not been deemed appropriate to hold a public and in-person gathering given the wartime conditions.
Some have suggested that Khamenei's 56-year old son Mojtaba Khamenei would succeed his father.
Trump had previously demanded a say in the appointment and dismissed the younger Khamenei as an unacceptable "lightweight".
"He's going to have to get approval from us," Trump told ABC News on Sunday, referring to Iran's next leader. "If he doesn't get approval from us he's not going to last long."
But Tehran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said earlier in the day 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", Araghchi went on to demand that Trump "apologise to people of the region" for the spiralling war.
The younger Khamenei is regarded as a conservative figure, notably because of his ties to the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the Islamic republic's military.
Israel's military has warned any successor that "we will not hesitate to target you".
- Air 'unbreathable' -
Israel's reach was underlined by two new operations overnight -- strikes against fuel dumps in and around Tehran, and an attack on a hotel in the heart of Lebanon's capital Beirut that targeted suspected Iranian commanders.
Israel said the Beirut strike killed five Revolutionary Guards commanders, including three from the Quds Force, the Guards' elite foreign branch.
Warplanes hit five oil facilities around the Iranian capital, killing at least four people, according to a state oil executive, and blanketing the city in acrid smoke.
Tehran's governor told the IRNA news agency that fuel distribution had been "temporarily interrupted" in the capital.
A dark haze hung over the city of 10 million people, blocking out the sun, while the smell of burning fuel lingered in the air.
Authorities warned the fumes could be toxic and urged citizens to stay indoors, but many windows were blown out by the force of the blasts.
"The blaze has been burning for more than 12 hours, the air has become unbreathable. I can't even go out to do the daily shopping," said a 35-year-old from Tehran.
"At first, I supported this war. After Khamenei's death, I celebrated with my friends: we drank wine and we danced.
"But since yesterday... people say there's not even any gasoline left at the gas stations," she said in a text message to Europe.
As the war ground on, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had enough supplies to continue their drone and missile war over the Middle East for up to six months.
Several blasts were heard over Israel's commercial hub of Tel Aviv after the Israeli military said it had detected a salvo of missiles from Iran. The Magen David Adom emergency services said six people were wounded in central Israel.
- Advanced missiles -
Trump again refused to rule out sending US ground troops into Iran, but continued to insist that the war was all but won despite the ongoing Iranian missile and drone strikes.
His comments came hours before the US military announced the death of a seventh service member, who died on Saturday in Saudi Arabia after being wounded during an Iranian attack.
Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used only first- and second-generation missiles, but would use "advanced and less-used long-range missiles" in the coming days.
Saudi Arabia said two people were killed and 12 wounded by a "projectile" on Sunday in Al-Kharj province, having earlier said it intercepted a wave of drones headed for targets including the diplomatic quarter of its capital Riyadh.
Kuwait, meanwhile, said an attack hit fuel tanks at its international airport and Bahrain reported a water desalination plant had been damaged.
In a rare speech, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa said "we regret the unprecedented aggression" of Iran's attacks, which he said "cannot be justified under any excuse".
Iran's health ministry said Sunday that at least 1,200 civilians had been killed and around 10,000 wounded -- figures AFP could not independently verify.
Lebanon's health minister said at least 394 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes since Lebanon was dragged into the war a week ago, including 83 children and 42 women.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed during the fighting in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said.
Trump on Saturday attended the return of the bodies of six American service members who were killed in a drone strike on a US base in Kuwait last Sunday.
- No clear way out -
Analysts warn there is still no clear path to ending a conflict that US and Israeli officials say could last a month or longer.
Trump has suggested Iran's economy could be rebuilt if a leader "acceptable" to Washington replaces the late supreme leader.
China and Russia have largely stayed on the sidelines despite close ties with Tehran.
China's top diplomat Wang Yi said the war in the Middle East should "never have happened", telling a press conference in Beijing: "The world cannot return to the law of the jungle."
On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV prayed "that the roar of the bombs may cease, the weapons may fall silent, and a space for dialogue may open".
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