Who is Mojtaba Khamenei? Son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to take over father’s function as Iran’s supreme chief | EUROtoday

Mojtaba Khamenei will exchange his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme chief, it has been confirmed.

Ayatollah Khamenei, 86, was killed in a US-Israeli strike on his private compound on Saturday, setting off a wave of chaos within the Gulf. His clerical management of the Islamic Republic had lasted over 37 years.

His spouse Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh and Mojtaba Khamenei’s spouse Zahra Adel had been additionally killed within the assaults, in line with Iran.

The youthful Khamenei, 56, was chosen because the supreme chief by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, state media reported.

The Assembly of Experts is a robust collective of 88 Islamic spiritual students who’ve all undergone a strict vetting course of by the Guardian Council so as to decide their loyalty to the supreme leaders. Their responsibility is to nominate and supervise the supreme chief.

After stress from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the choice to elect Mojtaba Khamenei was made, in line with Iran Internationalan impartial information outlet.

Both father and son have vehemently expressed their opposition to hereditary rule, in accordance with Shia theological rules.

Who is Mojtaba Khamenei?

Mojtaba Khamenei is the second-oldest son of the late Ayatollah and has stayed out of public eye till just lately.

Like his father, he has a background in each Islamic theology and the army and at the moment teaches superior theology at a non secular seminary in Qom.

He is taken into account a hardline conservative cleric with hyperlinks to Iran’s IRGC.

Khamenei has studied Islam since leaving highschool and was instructed by a few of Iran’s strongest students in Qom, the place he educated to be a cleric. During the Iran-Iraq struggle, he served within the Iranian army between 1987 and 1988.

Of the previous ayatollah’s six youngsters, he’s broadly perceived as probably the most influential, regardless of having by no means formally held a place in public workplace.

In 2005 he was accused of meddling in presidential elections after conservative candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received the race.

Reformist parts throughout the authorities, together with Mehdi Karroubi, one in all Ahmadinejad’s rivals, accused the “master’s son” of interfering. His father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, mentioned his son “is a master himself, not a master’s son”.

The Guardian reported that in 2009, Mojtaba Khamenei took over the Basij, an Iranian paramilitary group, so as to quell anti-government protests over the elections that yr.

He is reported to personal over 11 luxurious properties within the UK by way of shell firms, in line with a Bloomberg investigation. The buildings are valued at over $138m (£103m), together with one on Bishop’s Avenue in north London, often known as Billionaire’s Row.

The Assembly of the Forces of Imam’s Line has denied allegations that Khamenei owns massive monetary belongings. He was positioned below US sanctions in 2019.

His choice will probably trigger controversy in Iran with the Islamic Republic having posed as an alternative choice to the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s dynasty.