The son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will become Iran’s next supreme leader, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency announced, taking over after his father was killed in an attack by the US and Israel.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, is the third person to lead the Islamic Republic and the first example of hereditary succession since the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy in the 1979 revolution.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts elected the country’s next supreme leader in a “decisive vote,” according to Fars. The vote took place hours before the result was made public.
On Sunday, Iran kept up attacks on its neighbors during the ninth day of the war in the Middle East, hitting a water plant in Bahrain.
He keeps a relatively low public profile, but is seen as close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the military force that leads Iran’s missile program and regional alliances with militias, and which has swelled to control as much as 40% of Iran’s economy.
During alleged interference in the country’s 2009 elections that sparked widespread street protests, the opposition accused Mojtaba of being involved.
