(FILES) This handout picture taken in Tehran on October 30, 2024, and provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader, shows Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Irans slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28, 2026 in a US-Israeli military strike. Iran's Assembly of Experts announced Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country's new supreme leader on March 8, 2026. (Photo by KHAMENEI.IR / AFP) / NO USE AFTER APRIL 7, 2026 21:07:07 GMT - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / KHAMENEI.IR" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
Iran’s powerful clerical establishment has appointed Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new Supreme Leader, following the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in recent strikes blamed on the United States and Israel.
The decision was announced Sunday by the Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for selecting the Islamic Republic’s highest authority.
The appointment comes nine days after the elder Khamenei was killed during military strikes linked to the United States and Israel, an event that triggered a major escalation of tensions across the Middle East.
In a statement, the clerical council confirmed that Mojtaba Khamenei had secured the backing of its members.
“Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, ‘is appointed and introduced as the third leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the decisive vote of the respected representatives of the Assembly of Experts’,” the body said.
The statement stressed that the council moved quickly despite the ongoing conflict.
It added that the Assembly “did not hesitate for a minute” in selecting a new leader, even in the face of what it described as “the brutal aggression of the criminal America and the evil Zionist regime.”
US Reaction
Before the announcement was made, Donald Trump had publicly dismissed the younger Khamenei and suggested Washington should influence the decision.
“If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long,” Trump told ABC News.
However, Tehran quickly rejected the suggestion of foreign involvement in its leadership transition.
*Iran Rejects Foreign Interference*
Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted the choice of a new Supreme Leader was strictly an internal matter.
He said the Islamic Republic would “allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs.”
Araghchi also called on Trump to “apologise to people of the region” for what he described as the war triggered by US actions.
*Profile of the New Leader*
The 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei is widely viewed as a hard-line conservative within Iran’s ruling establishment. Analysts say he has built strong ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the powerful ideological arm of the country’s military.
Israel had earlier issued a stark warning to anyone who might succeed the late Supreme Leader.
The Israel Defense Forces had said any new leader supporting attacks on Israel could face direct retaliation, declaring that “we will not hesitate to target you.”
With Mojtaba Khamenei now assuming the powerful position once held by his father, observers say Iran’s leadership transition could further shape the trajectory of the ongoing regional crisis.
