Mohtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has become the new Supreme Leader of Iran following a decision by a council of 88 Shia religious leaders.
According to the New York Times, the 56-year-old Khamenei is the second son of his father and was born in 1969 in Mashhad—a significant religious center in Iran—ten years before the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
Since 1987, Mohtaba has joined the ranks of the Islamic armed forces and served during the final stages of the Iran-Iraq war, which lasted from 1980 to 1988.
In 1989, after his father was appointed as Supreme Leader, he continued his studies under the most influential clerics in Qom and also worked as a teacher in a religious seminary, building relationships with religious leaders, partly due to family ties. In 2004, he married the daughter of the Speaker of the Iranian Majlis, Gholam-Ali Adeli.
Despite his connections, Mohtaba remained in the shadows for a long time, managing his father's office and rarely making headlines.
After the conservative candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president in 2005, reformists accused Mohtaba of collaborating with religious leaders and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to support a lesser-known candidate.
One of Ahmadinejad's rivals, reformist Mehdi Karroubi, condemned Mohtaba's interference, calling him "the son of the master." To this, the then-Supreme Leader responded that his son "is the master himself, not the son of the master."
In 2024, the Assembly of Experts of Iran convened to discuss the succession of the Supreme Leader, and at that time, Khamenei stated that his son should not be a candidate for this position.
According to Reuters, Mohtaba is considered a supporter of the hardline conservative faction, like his father, and openly advocates for a tough policy against the opposition and foreign enemies. He has never held official positions in the government but has exerted influence due to his closeness to his father, according to Iranian experts.
His role in Iranian politics is highly controversial, as critics deny any hints of dynastic rule. Mohtaba's appearance, including the black turban of a Sayyid, indicates his lineage from the Prophet Muhammad.
Sanctions against him were imposed by the U.S. in 2019.
In January, Bloomberg reported that Mohtaba manages an investment empire and has access to Swiss bank accounts and elite real estate in the UK worth over $100 million, despite the sanctions.
According to the Hindustan Times, he has three children with his wife Zahra Haddad-Adel. Recent airstrikes resulted in the deaths of his mother, wife Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, and son, as well as Khamenei himself.
