Profile: Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's New Supreme Leader?

On March 8, 2026, just eight days after his father was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on Tehran, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei was declared Iran's third Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts [1]. For the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran's highest office has passed directly from father to son — a dynastic transfer that even the late Ali Khamenei reportedly wanted to avoid [2]. The appointment cements the grip of Iran's hardline military establishment on power during the most perilous crisis the Islamic Republic has faced in its 47-year history.

From Mashhad to the Front Lines

Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei was born on September 8, 1969, in the holy city of Mashhad in eastern Iran, into a family that would become central to the country's political identity [3]. His father, then a young revolutionary activist, would go on to become president and eventually the second Supreme Leader. Mojtaba grew up during the turbulence of the Islamic Revolution and its aftermath.

He attended the prestigious Alavi High School in Tehran, an institution that has produced many of the Islamic Republic's elite [3]. At just seventeen, in 1987, Mojtaba joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was sent to the front lines of the Iran-Iraq War, serving in the Habib Battalion — a unit that would later produce many senior IRGC commanders [4]. That early military experience forged bonds that would become the foundation of his political power decades later.

After the war, Mojtaba pursued Islamic theology, studying under his father's guidance and under the tutelage of Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. In 1999, he moved to the seminary city of Qom, where he studied under influential archconservative clerics including Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, known as one of the most hardline ideologues in the clerical establishment [3]. His education positioned him at the intersection of religious authority and political power — a combination that would define his career.

The Shadow Operator

Despite never holding elected office or any formal government appointment, Mojtaba Khamenei has been one of the most consequential political figures in Iran for the better part of two decades [5]. He effectively ran the Supreme Leader's office, known as the Beit, serving as his father's closest confidant and gatekeeper [4].

Iran specialists Kasra Aarabi and Saeid Golkar described him as effectively acting as a "mini supreme leader" inside his father's office, closely involved in security and military matters [4]. His influence extended far beyond administrative duties. When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then the relatively unknown mayor of Tehran, was propelled to the presidency in 2005, Mojtaba was widely believed to have orchestrated the IRGC and Basij paramilitary's support for his candidacy [6].

His role became unmistakable during the 2009 Green Movement. When millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest Ahmadinejad's contested re-election, Mojtaba took direct control of coordinating the crackdown [7]. According to regime insiders from the reformist faction, national security meetings were relocated to the Office of the Supreme Leader to be personally supervised by Mojtaba. He mobilized Basij militias and other security forces against demonstrators, resulting in dozens of deaths and thousands of arrests. Protesters chanted directly against him for the first time, shouting: "Mojtaba, may you die before you see leadership" [7].

His close relationship with Hossein Taeb, the former head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization, further cemented his role as the regime's enforcer behind the curtain [4]. The US Treasury Department sanctioned him in 2019, stating that he represented the Supreme Leader "despite never being elected or appointed to a government position aside from work in the office of his father" [8].

A Wartime Succession

The circumstances of Mojtaba's rise are without precedent in the Islamic Republic's history. On February 28, 2026, Israel and the United States launched joint airstrikes targeting Iranian leadership in Tehran as part of a broader military campaign [9]. Ali Khamenei, who had served as Supreme Leader since 1989, was killed in the strikes along with Mojtaba's mother, wife, and one of his sisters [1]. Mojtaba himself was reportedly not present at the time.

The assassination triggered an immediate succession crisis. An Interim Leadership Council was announced at Ali Khamenei's funeral, comprising Assembly of Experts member Alireza Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei [9]. But the real power play was already underway.

According to Iran International, beginning on March 3, IRGC commanders launched a pressure campaign on Assembly of Experts members, making "repeated contacts and psychological and political pressure" to secure votes for Mojtaba [10]. The 88-member body, tasked by Article 111 of Iran's constitution with electing the Supreme Leader, convened and on March 8 announced that consensus had been reached [11].

Iran's Economy Under Siege

Mojtaba Khamenei inherits a country already battered by decades of sanctions and now facing the economic devastation of active war. Iran's economy has been marked by chronic instability — soaring inflation, currency collapse, and heavy dependence on oil revenues that are now under direct military threat.

Source: World Bank

Data as of Feb 24, 2026CSV

The country's inflation rate has remained stubbornly high, hovering between 30% and 45% annually in recent years, reflecting the deep structural damage caused by international sanctions and economic mismanagement [12]. Even before the 2026 war, the Iranian rial had lost the vast majority of its value against the US dollar, and ordinary Iranians faced severe hardship.

Source: World Bank

Data as of Feb 24, 2026CSV

The conflict has added a catastrophic new dimension. The joint US-Israeli strikes disrupted approximately 20% of global oil supplies transiting the Strait of Hormuz, causing Brent crude prices to surge from around $70 to over $110 per barrel within days [13]. LNG spot prices in Asia more than doubled, and QatarEnergy declared force majeure at its Ras Laffan facility — the world's largest LNG plant, responsible for 20% of global production [13].

Source: FRED / U.S. Energy Information Administration

Data as of Mar 4, 2026CSV

The economic shockwaves have been felt globally, with stock markets declining, over 4,000 daily flights cancelled across Gulf states, and analysts warning of potential recession risks if Strait of Hormuz disruptions persist [13].

The Nuclear Question

Perhaps the most consequential dimension of Mojtaba's leadership is the future of Iran's nuclear program. While his father maintained a fatwa — a religious edict — against nuclear weapons, analysts have long viewed Mojtaba as more favorable to developing an Iranian nuclear weapons capability [8].

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy warned that under Mojtaba's leadership, he and the IRGC "might decide Iran should move quickly to obtain nuclear weapons to deter future US-Israeli attacks" [8]. This represents a potential paradigm shift. The ongoing military strikes have strengthened the argument within Iran's security establishment that only a nuclear deterrent can prevent regime change.

Mojtaba has historically opposed reformers seeking to engage with the West on nuclear limitations [8]. The 2025-2026 US-Iran negotiations, which had been proceeding before the conflict erupted, now appear effectively dead. The new Supreme Leader's hardline orientation suggests Iran will pursue a more confrontational path on the nuclear file.

IRGC: Kingmaker and Power Behind the Throne

The IRGC's role in installing Mojtaba raises fundamental questions about the true locus of power in the Islamic Republic. On March 8, the Revolutionary Guards declared they were "ready for complete obedience" to the new Supreme Leader [14]. But the reality may be more complex.

Mohsen Sazegara, a founder of the IRGC who later became a dissident, argued that Mojtaba "lacks the authority to replace his father" and that a circle of IRGC commanders now holds effective power [15]. A Euronews analysis quoted insiders saying that "the IRGC holds all the cards" and that Mojtaba may function more as a figurehead legitimizing military rule than as a genuine successor to his father's authority [15].

This dynamic creates a paradox. The IRGC backed Mojtaba precisely because of his deep ties to their organization, his hardline credentials, and his willingness to work closely with the security apparatus. But that same dependency means his authority is fundamentally derived from — and potentially constrained by — the military establishment that put him in power.

A Janes defense analysis concluded that Mojtaba's appointment "very likely indicates that elite cohesion will remain strong in the immediate term," but cautioned that the underlying tensions between clerical legitimacy and military power could destabilize the system over time [16].

Domestic Opposition and Diaspora Response

Inside Iran, the succession has been met with a mix of wartime rally-around-the-flag sentiment and deep unease. The dynastic nature of the transfer — precisely what the 1979 Revolution was supposed to end — has not been lost on Iranians. Ali Khamenei himself reportedly told close advisers that he did not want his son to succeed him, specifically to avoid the appearance of dynastic rule [2].

Large-scale demonstrations were reported across the Iranian diaspora, with hundreds of thousands rallying in European and North American cities in support of regime change [17]. In cities from Los Angeles to London, segments of the diaspora gathered in celebrations following Ali Khamenei's death, viewing it as the end of an era they had long opposed [17].

Opposition figure Maryam Rajavi, leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), announced a provisional government framework aimed at establishing a democratic republic [17]. Whether such opposition movements can gain traction inside Iran remains to be seen, particularly given the wartime conditions that favor centralized authority.

International Reactions

Global reactions have been sharply divided. US President Donald Trump dismissed Mojtaba's leadership as unacceptable, warning that the new Supreme Leader "is not going to last long" without Washington's approval [2]. US Senator Lindsey Graham echoed this, stating that Mojtaba's succession was "not the change we're looking for" and predicting he would "meet the same fate as that of his father" [1].

Russia's President Vladimir Putin pledged "unwavering" support for Mojtaba's appointment [1]. China opposed any targeting of the new Supreme Leader [1]. Yemen's Houthi movement described the succession as a "resounding blow" to enemies of the Islamic Republic [2]. The polarized international response reflects the broader geopolitical faultlines exposed by the 2026 Iran war.

What Comes Next

Mojtaba Khamenei takes power at the most dangerous moment in the Islamic Republic's history. He faces an active military conflict with the world's two most powerful military forces, an economy in freefall, a population exhausted by decades of hardship, and questions about whether his authority is truly his own or merely an extension of IRGC power.

His hardline credentials — forged in the Iran-Iraq War trenches, honed through the 2009 crackdown, and deepened through decades of shadowy political maneuvering — suggest he will not seek accommodation with the West. His stance on the nuclear program, his opposition to reform, and his deep symbiosis with the Revolutionary Guards all point toward escalation rather than negotiation.

Yet the very circumstances of his rise — a wartime succession engineered by military pressure, the dynastic transfer his own father reportedly opposed, and the devastation being visited upon his country — may force pragmatic recalculations that ideology alone cannot address. Whether the shadow prince who became Supreme Leader can hold together a nation at war while satisfying both the IRGC commanders who installed him and the millions of Iranians who never chose him is the defining question of this new and dangerous chapter in Iran's history.