Iran: Mojtaba Khamenei chosen as new supreme leader

Iran: Mojtaba Khamenei chosen as new supreme leader Submitted by MEE staff on Mon, 03/09/2026 - 07:02 The 56-year-old cleric takes power days after Israeli-US strikes killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of slain Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli-US strike, in a handout photo taken in Tehran on 30 October 2024 (Khamenei. ir/AFP) Off Mojtaba Khamenei has been named Iran ’s new supreme leader, just over a week after Israeli-US strikes killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , along with several family members, including the new leader's wife Zahra Adel, his mother Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, a son and a sister. The Assembly of Experts – the body of 88 scholars tasked under Iran’s constitution with appointing the country’s highest authority – said on Sunday that Mojtaba had been selected as the Islamic Republic’s third supreme leader since the 1979 revolution.