Trump calls 'unacceptable' Mojtaba Khamenei: Who is Iran's new supreme leader?


 


Iran’s Assembly of Experts has elected Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new Supreme Leader, succeeding his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The statement of the Assembly of Experts announcing the name of Iran’s newly elected Supreme Leader was read out by an anchor on state TV.

The statement said that “despite the severe war conditions, direct threats from the enemies against this public institution, and the fact that many members of the staff and security team were martyred as a result of the bombing of the secretariat offices, the process of selecting and introducing the leadership of the Islamic regime has not been delayed even for a moment.”

It should be recalled that US President Donald Trump had said that the selection of his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the successor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli attack, would be “unacceptable.”

In interviews with Reuters and Axios, the US president stressed that he (Trump) should also have a role in choosing a new supreme leader for Iran, just as he did in Venezuela when it came to choosing a new leadership.

During the interview, Trump admitted that Mojtaba Khamenei is the frontrunner for the position, but made it clear that he considers this outcome (Mojtaba as supreme leader) unacceptable.

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, has said that Tehran's "enemies" had hoped that the country would "fall into a stalemate" after Ali Khamenei's death, but the Assembly of Experts ultimately completed the process of selecting Mojtaba Khamenei.


Who is Mojtaba Khamenei?

Born on September 8, 1969, in the northeastern city of Mashhad, Mojtaba is the second of six children of Ali Khamenei. He received his secondary education at the religious Alawite school in Tehran.

According to Iranian media, at the age of 17, Mojtaba served in the army for several short stints during the Iran-Iraq War. The bloody eight-year conflict made the Iranian government increasingly suspicious of the United States and the West, which supported Iraq.

In 1999, Mojtaba went to Qom (a holy city and a major center of Shiite theology) to continue his religious studies. It is noteworthy that he had not worn religious garb until then, and it is unclear why he enrolled in a seminary at the age of 30.

Mojtaba is still a mid-level religious scholar.



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Months of planning and timely intelligence: How the US, Israeli mission to assassinate Khamenei was accomplished?

In recent days, media outlets and officials close to the centers of power in Iran have begun referring to Mojtaba Khamenei as “Ayatollah.” Ayatollah is a senior religious title. To some observers, the change appears to be an attempt to elevate his religious status and present him as a credible candidate for the country’s top leadership.

Holding the rank of “Ayatollah” and teaching at a high level in the madrasa system is considered a sign of a person’s academic level and knowledge, and is also considered a prerequisite for the selection of a future leader.

But there is already a precedent for this. Ali Khamenei was prematurely made “Ayatollah” when he was elected Iran’s second supreme leader in 1989.

Accusations of political interference

In an open letter to Khamenei, reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi accused Mojtaba of interfering in the voting process through elements of the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia, who distributed money to religious groups to help Ahmadinejad win.

Four years later, Mojtaba faced the same accusation again. Ahmadinejad’s re-election sparked widespread protests across the country, known as the “Green Movement.”

The then deputy interior minister, Mostafa Tajzadeh, called the result an “electoral coup”. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, a decision that Mostafa described as “the direct will of Mojtaba Khamenei”.

Two reformist candidates, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, were placed under house arrest after the 2009 elections. Iranian sources told BBC News Persian that in February 2012, Mojtaba met with him and urged Mousavi to abandon the protests.

Many expect Mojtaba to continue his father’s hardline policies. Some also believe that a man who lost his father, mother and wife to US and Israeli attacks would be less likely to bow to Western pressure.

But he will face the difficult task of ensuring the survival of the Islamic Republic and convincing the public that he is the right person to lead the country out of political and economic ruin.



His leadership record is largely untested, and the perception that the Iranian Republic is turning into a hereditary regime could deepen public anxiety.

It should be noted that the Israeli defense minister has said that any successor to Ali Khamenei would be “a clear target.”