President Donald Trump said earlier on March 8 that Iran’s new leader is ‘not going to last long’ if he is not approved by the United States.
(Apparently the Iranians have a different idea!)
The son of eliminated Iranian leader Ali Khamenei has been chosen to replace his father.
Mojtaba Khamenei was seen as a frontrunner in the lead-up to Sunday’s vote by the Assembly of Experts. The body of 88 clerics is constitutionally charged with choosing the Islamic republic’s next leader.
“By a decisive vote, the Assembly of Experts appointed Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei as the third Leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the assembly said in a statement issued just after midnight local time on March 9.
The position of supreme leader gives Mojtaba Khamenei the final say in all matters of state in the Islamic republic.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who has rarely been seen in public, has close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and influence with local clerics. His selection signals that hardliners remain firmly in charge of the regime.
In a statement welcoming his selection as leader, the IRGC pointed to the relatively young age of Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, calling him “a young intellectual and well-versed in political matters.” His father, who ruled for over 37 years, became leader at the age of 50 after the passing of founding leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife and mother have also been killed in the U.S.–Israeli strikes.
“They are wasting their time,” Trump told Axios last week. “Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodríguez] in Venezuela.” Following a U.S. military operation in Venezuela in early January to remove regime leader Nicolás Maduro, Washington put his vice president Rodríguez in charge, until the time that elections can be held.
After the appointment of the new leader in Iran, Trump declined to respond to a question on the development by The Times of Israel, saying, “We'll see what happens.” He also said that ending the war would be a mutual decision with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump previously said the potential new leaders that his administration would have preferred for Iran are dead. Dozens of Iranian commanders and officials have been killed since the war began.
Commenting on Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said “the son of the late murderous ayatollah is not the change we’re looking for.”
“He has lived large as the Iranian people have suffered and he’s been on the front lines of pushing hate because he too is a religious Nazi. I believe it’s just a matter of time before he meets the same fate as that of his father—one of the most evil men on the planet,” Graham said in a social media post.
The name of the fallen warrior has not yet been released.