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Mojtaba Khamenei

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Not to be confused with his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, or his father's predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini.

Ayatollah
Seyyed
Mojtaba Khamenei
مجتبی خامنه‌ای
Khamenei, age 56, in clerical clothing
Khamenei in 2026
3rd Supreme Leader of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office
8 March 2026
PresidentMasoud Pezeshkian
Preceded byAli Khamenei[a]
Deputy Chief of Staff to the Supreme Leader for Political and Security Affairs
In office
21 August 2008[b] – 8 March 2026
Supreme LeaderAli Khamenei
Chief of StaffMohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani
Preceded byPosition established
Personal details
BornMojtaba Hosseini Khamenei
(1969-09-08) 8 September 1969 (age 56)
Mashhad, Iran
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1999; died 2026)​
Children3[c]
Parents
RelativesKhamenei family
EducationQom Seminary
Political affiliationFront of Islamic Revolution Stability (patron)[2]
Signature
Military service
Allegiance Iran
Branch/service Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Years of service
Unit 27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division (1987–1988)
Commands
Battles/wars
Religious life
ReligionIslam
DenominationTwelver Shi'a
JurisprudenceJa'fari
CreedUsuli

Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei[d] (born 8 September 1969) is an Iranian Shia cleric who has served as the third supreme leader of Iran since March 2026. A member of the Khamenei family, he is the second child of the previous supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

Born in Mashhad, a city in northeastern Iran, he was nine when his father emerged as a leading figure in the Iranian Revolution. He received early education in Sardasht and Mahabad, and graduated high school from Tehran, after which he studied Islamic theology under the guidance of his father and Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. He joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 1987 and served in the Iran–Iraq War. In 1999, he continued his studies in Qom to become a cleric, and joined the Qom Seminary as a theological teacher afterwards. He took control of the Basij paramilitary volunteer militia in 2009.

Following the assassinations of one of his children, his father, his mother, one of his sisters, and his wife in the 2026 Iran war, Mojtaba was elected as the third supreme leader by Iran's Assembly of Experts. He has previously been sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury in 2019 as part of their policy of sanctioning individuals linked to Ali Khamenei.[3]

In political ideology and jurisprudence, he is considered to be among the most hardline of the Iranian principlists, and has close ties to some of the "most ideologically extremist clerics" per a report from Atlantic Council.[4] Analysts have generally seen him as more favorable to developing an Iranian nuclear weapons program than his father,[5] opposing Ali Khamenei's fatwa against nuclear weapons.

Early life and education

Khamenei (second from left) with his three brothers, from left to right: Mostafa, Masoud, and Meysam

Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei was born on 8 September 1969 in Mashad, the second child of Ali Khamenei and Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh.[6][7] His five siblings are Mostafa, his elder brother, Masoud and Meysam, his younger brothers, and Boshra and Hoda, his younger sisters. His paternal grandfather, Javad Khamenei, was a poor and low-income but deeply respected Twelver Shia cleric and scholar.[8]

Khamenei has Persian ancestry, but to a lesser extent, Azeri ancestry, with his Azeri roots being traced back to Khamaneh, a small town in East Azerbaijan where his surname originated from, and he also has distant roots from Tafresh.[9][10] His family traces its lineage to Husayn ibn Ali, the son of Ali, the first Shia Imam, and the maternal grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, hence Khamenei's middle name is Hosseini (spelled Husayni in Arabic; meaning "descendant of Husayn").[11]

During his childhood time, he spent seven years in the cities of Sardasht and Mahabad in northwest Iran, where he received his early education.[12][13] After graduating from Alavi high school in Tehran,[14] he studied Islamic theology. His early teachers included his own father and Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.[6] In 1989, Khamenei began his studies in Qom to become a cleric. Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani and Mohammad Bagher Kharazi were among his teachers there.[6][15] In 1992, he returned to Tehran, where he continued his religious studies for several years, but later relocated again to Qom to complete his advanced seminary education and pursue further religious scholarship.[16] In addition to his native Persian, he is fluent in Arabic and English and has completed specialized studies in psychology and psychoanalysis.[17]

Scholarly career

Khamenei taught theology in the Qom Seminary;[18] from 2004 he taught Kharij-e Fiqh (advanced jurisprudence) courses for approximately two decades and was considered the instructor of one of the most heavily attended advanced seminary classes.[17] The Dars-e Kharij is the highest level of jurisprudential instruction and a prerequisite for attaining the rank of mujtahid, a scholar qualified to perform independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) in Islamic law.[19]

His classes were noted for their analytical approach and for engagement with classical scholarly debates. Students and senior scholars observed that he frequently prepared detailed written notes in Arabic, raised critical questions concerning established positions, and maintained scholarly discussions with his teachers outside the formal setting of the classroom. Within the seminary his teaching was often described as emphasizing intellectual independence, careful reasoning, and methodological clarity in the study of jurisprudence, the principles of law, and the science of hadith transmitters (rijal). These characteristics were associated with a number of original contributions within the scholarly tradition of Shiite jurisprudence. His course became among the seminary’s most attended; at the beginning of the 2023 academic year of the Qom seminary more than 1,300 students registered for the lectures and about 700 attended the opening session.[20]

Early political career

Iran-Iraq War

Khamenei first joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps around 1987 after finishing high school at age 17.[14] He was part of the Habib bin Muzahir Battalion.[21] He took part in several operations, including Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas 2, Operation Dawn 10 and Operation Mersad.[22]

Role in the Office of the Supreme Leader

By 21 August 2008, WikiLeaks leaked a diplomatic cable from the United States embassy in London. Historian and political activist Alireza Nourizadeh alleged Khamenei was working alongside and under the mentorship of Asghar Hejazi, the then Political and Security Deputy to his father's office. Nourizadeh claimed he ranked immediately under Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, who was chief of staff, having significant influence over access to his father,[citation needed] providing counsel and accompanying him on official engagements throughout Iran, and overseeing all political and security affairs that are under the purview of the Supreme Leader. He was alleged to have been briefed by former IRGC chief of staff Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr and commander Mohammad Ali Jafari. He was also said to be close to former Tehran mayor, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who he politically advised, financed, and logistically supported.[23][better source needed]

In 2009, it was reported that Khamenei had assumed leadership of the Basij.[24] Reformist critics blamed him for suppressing the protests over the 2009 presidential election.[25] The Guardian argued in 2009 that "[t]he strength of Mojtaba's following has not been demonstrated", and that he "by no means has the theological status" to rise to Supreme Leader.[26]

In 2023, Iran International published leaked reports from the IRGC, revealing that Khamenei effectively controlled the Basij and excercised significant influence over the assignment and dismissal of personnel in their Intelligence and Intelligence Protection Organizations.[27]

Supreme leadership (2026–present)

Background

Several analysts considered Mojtaba as a possible successor to his father.[26][28] He was long considered by multiple western sources as the heir apparent to succeed his father Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran for nearly four decades.[29][30] In 2014, as well as 2025,[31][32] it was reported that the succession of Ali Khamenei was deemed to have been decided but not disclosed publicly.[33] Prior to his death, Khamenei had not publicly discussed his replacement.[20][34]

The possible succession of Ali Khamenei by Mojtaba Khamenei was thought by some to present a problem, for the Supreme Leader needs to be elected by the Assembly of Experts from among senior Shia Islamic scholars. It has been noted that the inaugural Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, exerted a strong influence in favour of the choice of Ali Khamenei,[30] and unconfirmed reports stated that Ali Khamenei had opposed nominating his son as successor.[35][36][37]

The Iranian constitution dictates the adherence to Khomeini's interpretation of the principle of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (velayat-e faqih). According to this interpretation, the Supreme Leader must be a Mujtahid, capable of interpreting Sharia law.[38] Mojtaba is a hojjatoleslam (a rank below that of Ayatollah).[39][40]

During the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi, Mojtaba was one of the clerics speculated as a possible successor as supreme leader.[41][42] However, he was considered unlikely to succeed his father.[43][44][45] The Middle East Institute opined that Khamenei appointing his own son as successor would cause conflict within the Iranian political and religious leadership,[46] as it would be a sign that the revolutionary Islamic system of government had evolved to dynastic rule.[47] Shia theological principles prohibit such a succession, and both Mojtaba and his father had voiced their opposition to it.[48]

Election

See also: 2026 Iranian Supreme Leader election

Mojtaba Khamenei was considered one of the likely candidates to replace his father as the new Supreme Leader.[49][50][51][52] According to Iran International which first broke the news that Mojtaba Khamenei was to become the Supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei was preferred by the IRGC, which pressured Assembly of Experts members to elect him on 3 March, by "in-person meetings and phone calls"; it had also been rumored that he had become Supreme Leader already by the 3 March, which was supposedly incorrect.[53][54] There was strong opposition from some members of the council,[55] including eight who stated that they would boycott a second online electoral meeting planned for 5 March.[54]

On 5 March 2026, US president Donald Trump responded to the reports that Mojtaba Khamenei was tipped for election by saying: "They are wasting their time. Khamenei's son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment".[56] Trump also said that the selection of Khamenei would be "unacceptable".[57] Following his election, Trump said that he was "disappointed" at the selection of Khamenei,[58] and that Iran's new leader "cannot live in peace".[59]

On 8 March 2026, the 88-person Assembly of Experts announced that Khamenei was elected Supreme Leader in a "unanimous vote".[60][61][62][19][63]

According to an analysis in Iran International, the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei to Supreme Leader is the completion of the Iranian government shifting away from public backing.[64]

Political and religious views

Khamenei in 2019
Further information: Conservatism in Iran

Khamenei is considered aligned with ultraconservatives among Iranian principlists. He is a devotee of and heavily informed by the views of Taqi Yazdi, being a patron of the latter's party, the Front for Islamic Revolution Stability.[65][66] According to the Atlantic Council, he is closely associated with those who hold fundamentalist and Mahdist views.[67] Mehmet Ozalp stated in The Conversation that, following Mojtaba Khamenei's election, he "[might] lean more heavily on the might of the IRGC" than his father did.[68] The Daily Telegraph predicted that he would view the United States as "implacable enemy" and would be likely to escalate the conflict and unlikely to make any compromises.[69]

According to a partisan documentary, Khamenei is portrayed as an "ethics-oriented jurist" and a "professor of human sciences" with extensive knowledge of religious texts; he is also described as being familiar with various fields including modern technology, military science, security affairs, political theory, and matters related to state administration.[17]

Ties within the IRGC

Khamenei for decades had been a highly influential figure in the inner circle of his father, the previous supreme leader, cultivating deep ties to the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), wielding the IRGC's Basij force to crack down on peaceful protesters during the Iranian Green Movement of 2009. Prior to him becoming the supreme leader, for nearly two decades, local and foreign-based democracy activists had linked his name to the violent suppression of Iranian protesters.[25]

Support for Ahmadinejad

Khamenei was affiliated with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,[30] and supported Ahmadinejad in the 2005 and 2009 controversial presidential elections.[70][39] Journalists stated that he may "have played a leading role in orchestrating" Ahmadinejad's electoral victory in 2009.[26][6]

Khamenei was speculated to have been "a key figure" in orchestrating the crackdown against anti-government protesters in June 2009.[71] He was believed to have been directly in charge of the paramilitary Basij, a blackout of his name in the regime press notwithstanding.[26]

During the 2009 protests, protesters accused Ali Khamenei of paving the way for the inheritance of the Leadership and the preparation of Mojtaba Khamenei,[72] Following these matters, the slogan "Mojtaba may you die, and not see the leadership" or "Mojtaba die, may you not take the leadership" was chanted by the protesters in the protests on 9 July 2009 in Tehran.[73][74][75]

In an open letter, Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist candidate in the 2009 election, accused Mojtaba Khamenei of conspiring to rig the election in Ahmadinejad's favor, referring to illegal interference of "a network".[76]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad later accused Mojtaba Khamenei of embezzling from the state treasury.[77]

Nuclear weapons policy

Several American analysts have described Mojtaba was a supporter of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, in opposition to his father's fatwa against them. According to The Washington Institute For Near East Policy, Mojtaba "may decide that Iran must move quickly to obtain nuclear weapons in order to forestall future U.S. and Israeli attacks. Whether this approach stablizes the regime or accelerates fragmentation, it will shape the next phase of the conflict."[78]

Personal life

Mojtaba Khamenei and his children on Quds Day in 2018
Mojtaba Khamenei and other members of the Qom Seminary, March 2016

He married Zahra Haddad-Adel, a daughter of Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel,[79][80] in 1999.[81][82] Their first child was born in 2007.[83] The first son is Mohamed Amin, followed by daughter Fatemeh Sadaat, and second son Mohamed Bagher. According to the Iranian state media, he was injured in the 2026 Iran war.[84] His wife, his parents, one of his sisters, and one of his sons were killed in the war, according to the Iranian government.[85][86][87]

Public silence

Khamenei has not given public lectures, Friday sermons, or political addresses – to the point that many Iranians have not heard his voice, despite knowing for years that he was a rising power within the theocratic establishment.[25]

Wealth

Mojtaba Khamenei is widely believed to control significant financial assets in banks such as Bank Ayandeh.[77][88]

A year-long investigation by Bloomberg, citing assessments from people familiar with the matter, reported in January 2026 that Khamenei is linked to an offshore financial network used to hold and move assets outside Iran. The reported holdings include high-value real estate in London and Dubai, as well as interests connected to shipping, banking relationships, and hospitality assets in Europe. According to the investigation, the assets were generally not held in Khamenei's name but structured through intermediaries and layered corporate entities across multiple jurisdictions. Some of these assets have since been sold or restructured amid increased scrutiny.[89]

Bloomberg identified Ali Ansari, an Iranian businessman sanctioned by the United Kingdom, as a central alleged facilitator in the network. Property records and corporate filings reportedly link Ansari and associated companies to several London properties, including residences on The Bishops Avenue, and to hotel ownership and management entities in Germany and other countries. Ansari has denied any financial or personal relationship with Khamenei and has stated that he intends to challenge the UK sanctions.[89]

The investigations further alleged that funds linked to the network largely originated from Iranian oil revenues and were routed through financial institutions in multiple jurisdictions, despite international sanctions imposed on Mojtaba Khamenei in 2019.[89]

On 14 January 2026, during the 2025–2026 Iranian protests, US Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent announced that "millions and tens of millions" of dollars have been wired by Iran's leaders to financial institutions worldwide, and Israel's Channel 14 reported that $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency had been sent to an account in Dubai with the involvement of Khamenei (who alone sent approximately $328 million).[90]

Sanctions

In 2019, Mojtaba Khamenei was placed under US sanctions for acting in place of the Supreme Leader without ever being elected or appointed to any official position[91] and for working closely with the commander of the Quds Force, responsible for "covert operations including lethal aid, intelligence, financing, and training" of Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Popular Mobilization Forces Iraq and others;[92] and for fostering close ties with the Basij paramilitary group as well as advancing "his father's destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives".[91]

Notes

  1. ^ Between Ali Khamenei's death on 28 February and Mojtaba Khamenei's election on 8 March, the Interim Leadership Council was tasked with handing the duties of the supreme leader.[1]
  2. ^ This was the earliest alleged date he served in this position. The actual date of his appointment is not known.
  3. ^ One deceased
  4. ^ Persian: مجتبی حسینی خامنه‌ای, romanized: Mojtabā Hoseyni Xāmene'i, pronounced [mod͡ʒtʰæˈbɒː hosejˈniː xɒːmeneˈʔiː].

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