Iran's Assembly of Experts has elected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the Islamic Republic's third supreme leader, marking the first hereditary transfer of power since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
This was reported by the Iranian news agency Fars News.
In a statement, the Council of Experts said the decision was made by “an overwhelming majority” and called on Iranians to “maintain unity and swear allegiance to the new leader.”
According to Qatari media outlet Al Jazeera, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei has never run for elected office, but for decades has been an influential figure in the Supreme Leader's inner circle and has close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Council of Experts, in its statement, also condemned the “brutal aggression of criminal America and the Zionist regime” and reported that the offices of the Council's secretariat were bombed during airstrikes, killing several employees.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that Iran's new leader “will not last long” without Washington's approval. Iranian officials rejected these claims, emphasizing that only Iranians can decide the future of their country. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf ridiculed Trump's claims to participate in choosing Khamenei's successor, saying that “Jeffrey Epstein's gang will not determine the fate of Iran.”
On March 3, sources reported that Iran's Assembly of Experts had chosen Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country's new supreme leader. However, Iran has not officially announced the election of a new supreme leader.