A fully untested leader takes over in Iran, just as the country’s theocracy faces its biggest test in five decades.
Continuity and connections have propelled Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, to the top after the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the first attacks of this conflict. But Iran’s third supreme leader since the 1979 revolution is taking power as the Islamic Republic faces an existential battle. Huge crowds, the “foot soldiers” of the revolution, immediately took to the streets chanting “Allahu Akbar” to celebrate his election by the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 Shiite clerics. All security forces swore to serve the new commander “to the last drop of blood.” State television showed footage of the first missiles being launched in his name with a caption: “At your service, Seyyed Mojtaba.”
Yet from their apartments, some of the protesters who in January had denounced his father as a “dictator” and called for his death were heard last night chanting “Death to Mojtaba!” For those still mourning the thousands killed in the suppression of those protests, the regime looks set to become even harsher.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the late ayatollah’s second-best-known son, is in the same ultraconservative mold as his father. He worked in his shadow for decades and has close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which he joined as a teenager. The Guard, created in 1979 to protect the revolution, now controls a multi-layered security system and a vast economic empire. The young Khamenei lost not only his father in the Israeli attack on the supreme leader’s compound, but also his mother, wife and a son. He was reportedly wounded, but no further details were available. US President Donald Trump has called Mojtaba Khamenei “unacceptable” and warned that “he won’t be around for long.” Israel has also declared him a “clear target.”
The mystery surrounding him deepens: he has given no public speeches, has rarely appeared in public, and has held no official positions. Most Iranians have never heard his voice. However, he has been mentioned as being involved behind the scenes in the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 and the contested re-election of 2009 that brought about the “Green Revolution.”
His rise appears to signal a further push of reformists to the margins of Iranian politics. Politicians such as Ali Larijani and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, linked to the Revolutionary Guard, are already key figures in his camp. Although some have described Mojtaba Khamenei as “very progressive” and compared him to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, there is little sign of a major change. Instead, Iran finds itself in the midst of an escalating war that is shaking the entire Middle East and causing economic shockwaves across the region. His rise has been described by Trump as a “worst-case scenario,” while America’s and Israel’s adversaries see it as their best chance to advance the battle. (BBC)