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Why Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba is unlikely to be Iran's next Supreme Leader
Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu claimed there was evidence to suggest Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei was dead and officials told Reuters his body had been found.
All eyes are on Iran and the possible Supreme Leader amid reports of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei being killed. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed there was evidence to suggest the 86-year-old was no longer alive, following strikes on his compound in Tehran.
This comes amid the Israel and US offensive launched on Iran today. A senior Israeli official also told Reuters that Khamenei's body had been found.
Khamenei has been the leader of the Islamic Republic since 1989, a decade after he rose to prominence during the theocratic revolution that managed to topple the monarchy there and rock the Middle East.
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Now, in the event that claims about his death do turn out to be true, Iran would get a new Supreme Leader. Khamenei reportedly identified three potential successors last year itself, as per The New York Times. They are senior clerics, and the report added that Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, though long considered a frontrunner was not among the chosen candidates.
Mojtaba Khamenei is a cleric who's reportedly closely aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Here's why he is unlikely to be Ali Khamenei's successor.
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Why Mojtaba is unlikely to be Ayatollah Khamenei's successor
Mojtaba has a series of hurdles on the path to becoming the next Supreme Leader of Iran, as per Middle East Institute.
The first challenge is likely to be constitutional requirements. As per the Islamic Republic's constitution, Assembly of Experts appoints Khamenei’s successor. Candidates must have ‘political experience’ as per the law. Mojtaba reportedly fails on this account, the institute noted. This is because despite running the Office of the Supreme Leader, de facto, he's had no formal political roles in the regime.
If Mojtaba were to be the next Supreme Leader it would go against the Shi’a Islamic convention, which notes that blood lineage for the mantle is exclusively reserved for 12 divinely ordained Shi’a Imams. Khamenei himself was elected supreme leader in 1989 over Khomeini’s influential son, Ahmad, due to this. In 2023, Khamenei had said in a speech “dictatorship and hereditary government are not Islamic," as per US-based think tank, Stimson Center.
They also reported that Ayatollah Mahmoud Mohammadi Araghi, a member of the Assembly of Experts revealed in 2024, “The news reached the leader that the experts are investigating the case of Mojtaba’s leadership. The leader said, ‘What you are doing raises suspicions about the leadership’s hereditary issue.’ So the investigation was not allowed. … On another occasion, when they sought permission from the leader to investigate a person related to him, he responded, ‘No, draw a line under this issue’.”
Thus, Mojtaba's selection could lead to turmoil, the institute suggested, which would be opposite to the smooth transition Khamenei has had in mind by shortlisting his successors last year.
The Middle East Institute also reported that Khamenei's own ambitions for the future of the Islamic Republic could also likely result in Mojtaba not being chosen as a successor. As per the institute, Khamenei is likely to go with the most hardline zealots, in an attempt to ‘purify’ the regime.
