No one anticipated that Mojtaba Khamenei, often seen as an ineffective “nepo baby,” would rise as Iran’s next supreme leader. This sentiment was shared by both former President Trump and his own father, who led the nation until his death in a recent airstrike.
However, the influential Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had a different vision for the future.
Experts revealed that the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was so against his son’s ascension that he explicitly addressed it in his will. “Khamenei’s will clearly stated that Mojtaba should not be his successor,” explained Khosro Isfahani, a research director at the National Union for Democracy, an organization with connections to Iranian intelligence.
Isfahani characterized Mojtaba as a young cleric who has yet to distinguish himself politically. The late Khamenei believed his son lacked both the experience and the capability to govern Iran effectively.
“Throughout the years, Mojtaba’s prominence has been solely tied to his father’s name,” Isfahani added.
“All these years, he has been nothing without his father’s name,” he added.
And Mojtaba wasn’t even properly selected by Iran’s succession council — but the IRGC coerced the Assembly of Experts as it deliberated last week before finally forcing a vote.
Mojtaba didn’t even win a majority in that vote, Isfahani said, citing sources in Iran — but the IRGC made sure it appointed him anyway, reportedly prompting many clerics to boycott the meeting where the selection was announced.
“The Assembly of Experts that was supposed to pick the replacement of Khamenei didn’t vote for Mojtaba,” Isfahani said. “There was a lot of pushback against him, but under pressure from the IRGC, he was named as the successor.”
And the late Khamenei wasn’t the only one whom Iran defied by appointing Mojtaba.
Trump had earlier signaled that Mojtaba was an “unacceptable” choice, and doubled down on his dissatisfaction in a call with The Post after Mojtaba’s appointment Sunday.
“I’m not happy with him,” the president told The Post from Florida.
Trump previously signaled that Tehran was not to pick a leader without seeking his approval first, telling Axios that nobody would hold power in Iran unless he gave permission.
“We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” the president said.
“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” he told the outlet, also telling ABC that Iran’s new leader is “not going to last long” without US approval.
And Trump is reportedly prepared to assassinate the new leader, too, if he doesn’t meet a series of demands from the US, according to reports.
Those demands include a total abandonment of Iran’s nuclear weapons, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing current and former US officials.
Such an operation would likely be led by Israeli forces, much like the brutal strike that killed Mojtaba’s father in Tehran on Feb. 28.
At least 49 other high-ranking Iranian officials were also killed in that strike, which has plunged the country into a state of war with US and Israeli rockets continuing to fall.
Mojtaba’s mother, wife and son perished as well. He was injured in the blast, too, though it remains unclear how badly, according to Iranian media.
Mojtaba, 56, never held government office prior to his appointment, but spent his career working in the background of his father’s regime to further its oppressive conservative rule.
He was even referred to as “the power behind the robes” in leaked US diplomatic cables from the 2000s, around the time he was accused of rigging Iran’s presidential elections to secure the appointments of regime loyalists.
It remains to be seen whether Mojtaba will work with the US — but some have speculated that his appointment is intended to show the West that Iran’s goals have not been deterred by the attacks.
“They see him as a puppet — a blank canvas that they can paint anything on,” Isfahani said of the IRGC and its designs for Mojtaba.
The deaths of his wife and son in the strike could also prove ominous — as Mojtaba was treated for impotence numerous times after he was married, and struggled to conceive and build that family, leaked cables showed.
Israel’s military previously said that any Iranian leader furthering Tehran’s regime of terrorism would be an “unequivocal target for elimination.”
