On 28 February, the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran, killing the regime’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Questions have since grown over who will become the new Supreme Leader, including speculation that it may be Khamenei’s second son Mojtaba.
Initial reports suggested Saturday’s strikes killed him and his father. However, Middle Eastern media is now reporting Mojtaba is the regime’s preferred successor.
Who is Motjaba Khamenei?
Mojtaba
Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Supreme Leader has held almost all decision-making power in Iran. Khamenei became Supreme Leader in 1989.
Mojtaba is Ali Khamenei’s second-eldest son. He has kept relatively out of the public eye.
Middle East Political and Information Network director Dr Eric Mandel told UK-based outlet Iran International the 56-year-old has “operated behind the scenes”.
Mojtaba is known to have served in the the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a military force alongside the Iranian army, in his youth.
On Tuesday, Iran International reported that Mojtaba had been chosen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, a group of elected officials tasked with choosing and supervising the Supreme Leader.
Neither the Iranian Government nor state media has confirmed his appointment.
Response
The Israeli Government has issued threats towards any new leader appointed by the regime.
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Defence Minister Israel Katz said:
“Every leader... will be an unequivocal target for elimination.”
The Guardian reported that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar issued a warning that Mojtaba will be assassinated.
Iran International has shared video of people in Tehran chanting “Death to Mojtaba”.
Pahlavi
The son of the last Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, has repeatedly vowed to lead Iran if the regime were to fall.
Addressing Khamenei’s death, Pahlavi told the regime’s “remaining officials” to “declare your loyalty to my plan”.
Pahlavi has spoken about a five-part plan to transition Iran to a non-religious democracy, including steps for “the first 180 days” after the regime falls, called the Iran Prosperity Project.
The project identifies Pahlavi as the “Leader of the National Uprising”.
On Wednesday (local time), when asked about Pahlavi leading a post-regime Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump said: “Some people like him. We haven’t been thinking too much about that.”
“It would seem to me that somebody from within maybe would be more appropriate,” he added.
Trump said that “most of the people we had in mind [to lead] are dead.”
