Tehran: Iran’s Assembly of Experts selected Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the new supreme leader of the country, state media reported.
Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Mojtaba (56), also lost his mother, wife and a sister in the same attack. He survived as he was not present during the targeted strike..
After selecting Mojtaba, the Assembly of Experts – the 88-member clerical body that selects the country’s supreme leader – called upon Iranians to maintain unity and pledge support to him.
Mojtaba was chosen based on a “decisive vote”. It urged all Iranians, “especially the elites and intellectuals of the seminaries and universities”, to “pledge allegiance to the leadership and maintain unity”, the assembly said in a statement circulated on state media on Sunday.
While Mojtaba has never run for office or been subjected to a public vote, he has been a highly influential figure in the inner circle of the previous supreme leader for decades, cultivating deep ties to the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
He has been increasingly touted as a top potential replacement for his father in recent years. Ali Khamenei was president of Iran for nearly eight years before holding absolute power for 36 years.
Observers believe that Mojtaba’s selection is clear indication that the hardline factions continue to hold sway in Iran’s power corridors. This would mean that the government has little desire to agree to a deal or negotiations in the short term
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Mojtaba never discussed the issue of succession publicly, a sensitive topic, considering that his ascension to the position of supreme leader would effectively create a dynasty reminiscent of the Pahlavi monarchy before the 1979 Islamic revolution, as reported by Al Jazeera.
The hardliner cleric kept a low profile, not giving public lectures, Friday sermons, or political addresses – to the point that many Iranians have not heard his voice, despite knowing for years that he was a star rising within the theocratic establishment.
Despite having remained in the wings, local and foreign-based opponents have linked Mojtaba’s name to the violent suppression of Iranian protesters for nearly two decades now.
He was first accused of tampering with elections and wielding the IRGC’s Basij force to crack down on peaceful protesters during the Green Movement of 2009, by the reformist camp in Iran. This movement took place
The Basij forces have since been at the heart of the establishment’s crackdown against multiple waves of nationwide protests, most prominently two months ago, when the United Nations and international human rights organisations say state forces killed thousands of people, mostly on the nights of January 8 and 9.
Mojtaba began developing close ties within the IRGC from his younger years, when he served in the Habib Battalion of the force during multiple operations in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. Several of his comrades, including other clerics, went on to obtain leading posts in the security and intelligence apparatus of the then-nascent Islamic Republic.
Mojtaba, who is under US and Western sanctions, has also amassed an economic empire involving assets in multiple countries, according to reports in Western media outlets.
While his name did not appear in any of the alleged transactions, he reportedly moved billions of dollars over the years through a network of insiders and associates linked with the Iranian establishment.