Mojtaba Khamenei assumes top position of power in Iran after appointment by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Iran’s Assembly of Experts elected this Tuesday (March 3, 2026) Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei, as the new supreme leader of Iran. The decision was taken after the 86-year-old, in an attack attributed to the United States and Israel on Sunday (March 2, 2026), according to local broadcaster Iran International.
The , has the constitutional responsibility to appoint the Iranian supreme leader. Sources told Iran International that Mojtaba was selected under pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The nomination took into account his military history, including serving in the armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war, but he did not hold formal political positions in the regime.
Analysts at the US Middle East Institute say Mojtaba’s appointment is unconstitutional and goes against religious principles, as the Iranian Constitution requires political experience for the position.
Shia tradition rejects hereditary succession for supreme leadership except for the 12 divinely ordained imams. In 1989, Ali Khamenei became supreme leader instead of Ahmad Khomeini, son of Ruhollah Khomeini, following this principle. In 2023, Ali Khamenei stated that dictatorship and hereditary rule are not Islamic, and in 2024 Ayatollah Mahmoud Mohammadi Araghi declared that Khamenei had stopped investigations into Mojtaba’s possible leadership, warning against suspicions of hereditary rule.
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