World’s Newest Dynasty Emerges in Iran

The accession of the new supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, marks a dynastic turn for a regime — an Islamic Republic, after all — that was intended to be immune to such trappings of hereditary rule. The younger Ayatollah Khamenei succeeds his slain father, who was felled by 50 fighter jets of the Jewish state he spent a lifetime despising. Early indications are that such enmity was passed with the throne.The younger Ayatollah Khamenei, the Times reckons, “has been an influential figure in the shadows of power, coordinating military and intelligence operations at his father’s office.” His choice, the Gray Lady reckons, signals “the continuity of hard-line theocratic rule as Israeli and U.S. airstrikes pound the country.” His selection points to the growing influence of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. This is not a selection that screams surrender. Ayatollah Khamenei, 56, was chosen by the regime’s Assembly of Experts, a group of 88 Shiite clerics, who appeared to put aside the erstwhile leader’s hesitation about making the role hereditary. The Associated Press reckons that he is “believed to hold views that are even more hard-line than his late father.” He is already ahead of him in at least one sense — the son, unlike the father, already holds the title of “ayatollah” at the time of his promotion. How long the Khamenei scion lasts in the land of the living is perhaps the most pressing question about his accession. Iran state television reports that he is a Jaanbaz, meaning an injured veteran, of the “Ramadan War,” which is how Tehran refers to the current conflict. Ayatollah Khamenei’s mother, wife, a son, and sister have already been reported killed, and the new supreme leader has not been heard from since the war began. His home was bombed. One vote that Ayatollah Khamenei did not win was the one belonging to President Trump, who last week told Axios that “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone who will bring harmony and peace to Iran. They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight.” The IRGC, though, hails his appointment as heralding a “new dawn and a new phase for the revolution and the Islamic Republic’s rule.”Another player to watch is the powerful leader of Iran’s National Security Council, Ali Larijani, who was serving as the country’s de facto leader after the death of the previous ayatollah. He assesses that “Despite the enemies’ tactics to kill Imam Khamenei in hopes of bringing the country to a dead end, Mojtaba Khamenei was elected in a legal process.” Videos circulating online, though, appear to capture Tehranis chanting “Death to Mojtaba.”The revolution that thundered against the hereditary throne of the shah has now turned, at its moment of greatest crisis, to what is called in America a “nepo baby” to save it — or perhaps to preside over its end. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria reasons that the move is “a very bad sign for the war” because it means that hardliners are “fully in charge.” They have been for decades, notwithstanding Western denialism. The House of Khamenei is what it has always been.

World’s Newest Dynasty Emerges in Iran

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