Image: from David Patrikarakos X @dpatrikarakos
By Open Chronicle Staff with Agencies
TEHRAN — In a historic and highly controversial move, Iran’s Assembly of Experts officially appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as the nation’s new Supreme Leader late Sunday. The announcement, carried by state-run Press TV, marks the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that the country’s highest authority has passed from father to son, effectively establishing a dynastic succession.
The 56-year-old mid-ranking cleric succeeds his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike on February 28. The appointment comes on the ninth day of a rapidly escalating regional war and follows reports of intense pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to finalize the transition despite internal clerical dissent.
“With the decisive vote of the respected representatives, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei has been introduced as the third leader of the sacred system,” the Assembly said in a statement. Clerical officials noted that the “name of Khamenei will continue,” framing the choice as a commitment to the revolutionary path established by his father and Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The selection of Mojtaba, a figure with deep ties to Iran’s security and intelligence apparatus, signals a “security-first” posture for the regime. However, the move has already drawn sharp condemnation from Washington. Earlier on Sunday, President Donald Trump labeled the younger Khamenei an “unacceptable” choice, warning that any leader appointed without U.S. approval “is not going to last long.”
Critics within Iran and abroad have long warned that a father-to-son succession would undermine the Islamic Republic’s founding principles, which were built on the rejection of the hereditary monarchy of the Shah. Analysts suggest that the IRGC’s backing was the deciding factor, as the military elite seeks a familiar gatekeeper to manage the ongoing conflict.
As the new Supreme Leader takes command, he inherits a nation under fire. Israeli strikes have recently decimated Iranian oil facilities, while Tehran continues to launch retaliatory drone and missile attacks across the Gulf. With the IDF vowing to “pursue every person” involved in the succession, Mojtaba Khamenei’s reign begins under the most perilous conditions in the regime’s 47-year history.