Claims emerge that Iran's new supreme leader has been chosen: Mojtaba Khamenei's name mentioned
Iranian opposition media has alleged that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Khamenei, who lost his life in US-Israeli attacks, has been selected as the country's new supreme leader.
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Following the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in attacks carried out by Israel in coordination with the US, the question of who will succeed him has become a subject of intense speculation.
As discussions on the matter continue, the London-based opposition outlet Iran International has put forward the claim that Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been selected as the country's new supreme leader.
The report alleges that the Assembly of Experts, which holds the authority to determine the successor to the Supreme Leader, selected Mojtaba Khamenei under pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
There has been no official statement from Iran regarding a new supreme leader or the subject at hand.
WHO IS MOJTABA KHAMENEI?
Born in Mashhad in 1969, Mojtaba Khamenei received his education in Tehran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He later pursued religious studies in the cities of Tehran and Qom.
It is noted that Mojtaba Khamenei has close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and served during the Iran-Iraq War.
The US administration placed Mojtaba Khamenei on its sanctions list under a decree issued in 2019. This move also brought to the fore allegations that he had effectively taken over some of the Supreme Leader's powers.
The Iranian Constitution requires the Supreme Leader to be a cleric with high-level religious authority.
The fact that Mojtaba Khamenei has not yet reached the level of "Ayatollah" and that Iran's governing system was established in opposition to monarchy makes a father-to-son succession controversial.