Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been appointed as the country’s new supreme leader, according to opposition media.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, the second-oldest son of the late leader, is widely regarded as having close ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iranian opposition outlet Iran International reported that he was selected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards.
Despite his reported appointment, Mojtaba Khamenei is not a senior cleric, has never held elected office and has no formal role within Iran’s political system.
He did, however, serve in the Iranian armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war and is believed to exert significant influence behind the scenes. For years, he has been widely viewed as a potential successor to his father.
Nonetheless, he was reportedly excluded from a list of three senior clerics identified last year by Ali Khamenei as possible successors.
Ali Khamenei was also said to have opposed his son’s candidacy, citing concerns that a father-to-son succession would echo the hereditary rule of the US-backed Shah, which was overthrown during Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Hereditary succession is also viewed unfavourably within Iran’s Shiite clerical establishment.
However, much of Iran’s senior leadership has been killed in the latest conflict, while Mojtaba Khamenei maintains close ties to the IRGC and the Basij volunteer paramilitary force.
Although sanctioned by the United States in 2019, Mojtaba Khamenei is believed to oversee an investment network worth more than £100 million, with access to luxury properties in north London and bank accounts in the UK, Switzerland, the UAE and Liechtenstein.
He is reported to own 11 properties on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead, north London, an exclusive street known as “Billionaires’ Row”.
The properties are said to be held through a network of shell companies, including one registered in the Isle of Man.
Under Iran’s system of Islamic guardianship, the supreme leader is expected to be a senior cleric with substantial political authority.
While Mojtaba Khamenei has not held high-ranking political posts, he studied under conservative religious figures at Islamic seminaries in Qom, a major centre of Shiite scholarship.
Born in 1969 in Mashhad, he grew up as his father played a leading role in opposition to the Shah.
His wife, Zahra Adel, and his mother, Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, were among those reported killed in Saturday’s strikes.
Until recently, the leading candidate to succeed the 86-year-old supreme leader had been hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May 2024.
Iran’s 88-member Assembly of Experts is responsible for appointing, supervising and, if necessary, dismissing the supreme leader.
The body met on Tuesday in Qom to select a successor following Ali Khamenei’s death in joint US-Israeli strikes on Saturday.
Israeli and US attacks later destroyed the building where the assembly had convened. No information was available on potential casualties.
Separate air strikes also struck Tehran’s Ferdowsi Square on Tuesday afternoon, with images showing injured civilians moving through debris.
The latest escalation followed remarks by US President Donald Trump, who said it was “too late” for talks with Iran’s remaining leadership.
Trump warned that the “hardest hits” were yet to come as fighting entered its fourth day, and said the US would retaliate following a drone attack on its embassy in Saudi Arabia.
He also claimed the opening strikes had eliminated Washington’s preferred successors to Khamenei.
“The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,” Mr Trump told ABC News.
Among those reported killed were senior adviser Ali Shamkhani, Revolutionary Guard commander Mohammad Pakpour, and former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In a separate interview with The New York Times, Mr Trump said he had “three very good choices” for Iran’s next leader but declined to name them.
On Monday night, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi described the killing of the supreme leader as a “religious crime” that would carry serious consequences.
Iran has since launched a series of attacks across the Middle East.
On Tuesday, a drone strike hit the US Consulate building in Dubai.
Videos posted on social media showed a large plume of smoke rising from the site, which authorities said had been struck by a missile.
No injuries were reported, and the fire was extinguished, according to the Dubai Media Office.
A statement said: “The competent authorities in Dubai succeeded in extinguishing a limited fire in the vicinity of the U.S. Consulate in Dubai resulting from a drone targeting operation, and the incident did not result in any injuries.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the drone was believed to have hit a car park adjacent to the consulate, which is located near Dubai’s British embassy.
