‘Worse Than His Father’: Mojtaba Khamenei’s Rise From Behind-the-Scenes Power Broker to Iran’s Supreme Leader

The 56-year-old son of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba Khamenei has spent decades operating in the shadows of Iran’s Islamic Republic, building deep ties with the Revolutionary Guards and cultivating influence through brutal crackdowns on dissent.Now, with his father assassinated in the United States and Israeli airstrikes on February 28, the 56-year-old hardline cleric has emerged from behind closed doors to assume the mantle of Supreme Leader at the most perilous moment in the regime’s 47-year history. Yet even as Iranian state television confirmed his appointment on Sunday, questions swirl about whether he is alive and well, or whether the regime’s newest leader has already been wounded in the ongoing conflict.Iranian state media described the new Ayatollah Khamenei as “janbaz” — a Persian term denoting a war veteran wounded by enemy forces — during the announcement of his leadership, in what Tehran calls the “Ramadan war.” The circumstances of injury, if any, are unclear. A source close to Israeli intelligence tells The New York Sun that the younger Mr. Khamenei was targeted in the February 28 strikes and initial findings suggested he had been killed. However, Israeli officials now believe he survived with wounds. His conspicuous absence from public view since the strikes has fueled ongoing speculation about his condition. The February 28 strike killed not only his father but also his mother, his wife Zahra Haddad-Adel, and one of his three children. The devastating losses have transformed him into a martyr figure in the eyes of hardliners, potentially strengthening his position even as doubts about his condition persist. Despite maintaining an extremely low public profile and never giving speeches or interviews, state media images showed the new leader at pro-government events as recently as February 2026, when he attended the 47th anniversary celebrations of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran.“He is far worse than his father,” military analyst John Wood told The New York Sun. “He is totally corrupt. Ran arms, human and gasoline trafficking schemes with his buddies in the IRGC. He will want revenge not just for the death of his father, but also for the deaths of his wife and mother.”The implications for American interests could be severe, with Mr. Wood warning that Ayatollah Khamenei “will want to bring the fight to the United States and Europe,” potentially targeting American bases overseas and critical energy infrastructure on United States soil.The Green Movement’s Architect of RepressionBorn in Mashhad in 1969, Mojtaba Khamenei came of age as his father rose from revolutionary dissident to Supreme Leader. He joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at 17 and served in the Habib Battalion during the Iran-Iraq War. Those battlefield connections with fellow young clerics would later become the foundation of his power, as many of his wartime comrades ascended to leading positions in Iran’s security and intelligence apparatus.After the war, he studied Islamic theology in Qom, Iran’s religious center, under the guidance of Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, one of the regime’s most extremist clerics who once issued a fatwa calling for the killing of Iranian youths who promoted “Western immorality.”Ayatollah Khamenei’s path to power accelerated dramatically in 2009 when he allegedly engineered Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed reelection and then personally supervised the IRGC’s brutal suppression of the Green Movement protests that followed. According to regime insiders, national security meetings were moved to the Office of the Supreme Leader so Ayatollah Khamenei could oversee the crackdown in person. Protesters chanted directly against him for the first time, shouting “Die, Mojtaba, so you don’t become the supreme leader.” The campaign left dozens dead and thousands jailed, marking the Islamic Republic’s first large-scale suppression of a major anti-regime wave. A leaked IRGC intelligence report later revealed that while Ayatollah Khamenei conveyed his “appreciation” to security forces for neutralizing the protests, he also criticized the Basij paramilitary for ignoring his calls to be better equipped to suppress demonstrators.That pattern would repeat itself. During the January 2026 protests that convulsed Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei again commanded the violent suppression of civilians, according to leaked IRGC reports. The United Nations and human rights organizations say state forces killed thousands during those demonstrations, mostly on the nights of January 8 and 9. In 2023, Iran International published leaked documents showing that Mr. Khamenei effectively controlled the Basij, the Revolutionary Guards’ volunteer paramilitary militia that acts as the regime’s primary force for crushing dissent and exercised significant influence over personnel assignments in their Intelligence and Intelligence Protection Organizations. His two decades of directing violent crackdowns taught him that overwhelming force could secure power and tighten his grip on Iran’s security establishment.The Offshore Empire and Corruption NetworksBehind the clerical robes and revolutionary rhetoric lies what analysts describe as a vast business empire spanning continents. Ayatollah Khamenei has amassed wealth through a network of insiders despite 2019 United States sanctions targeting him for representing his father “in an official capacity, despite never being elected or appointed to a government position.” Moreover, the new Supreme Leader is linked to an offshore financial network used to hold and transfer assets outside Iran, including luxury properties in London and Dubai, as well as interests in shipping, banking, and European hospitality assets. His financial empire expanded dramatically after his father became Supreme Leader in 1989, giving the family access to billions of dollars in business assets spread across Iran’s bonyads. These state-funded foundations control vast swaths of the economy.In January, during nationwide protests, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Iran’s leaders had wired “millions and tens of millions” of dollars to financial institutions worldwide. An additional $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency had been sent to an account in Dubai, with Ayatollah Khamenei alone allegedly moving approximately $328 million.Mr. Khamenei has also been connected to founder Ali Ansari and Bank Ayandeh, which was forcibly dissolved by the state last year after going bankrupt due to lending to unnamed insiders and accruing huge debts.The bank’s collapse helped push Iran’s rampant inflation higher, making ordinary Iranians poorer as losses had to be partly compensated with public funds. Neither Ayatollah Khamenei nor Mr. Ansari has publicly addressed the allegations. As a United States intelligence official points out to the Sun, Ayatollah Khamenei “ran arms, human and gasoline trafficking schemes with his buddies in the IRGC,” building the connections and wealth that would eventually position him as the only viable successor to his father.Defiance and the Promise of RevengeAyatollah Khamenei’s selection by the Assembly of Experts came only after what multiple sources described as heavy pressure from the IRGC. Starting early on March 3, Revolutionary Guard commanders made “repeated contacts” with assembly members, exerting “psychological and political pressure” to secure their votes for the younger Khamenei. A first electoral session held online that day was described by members as having an “unnatural” atmosphere. Those who presented arguments against Ayatollah Khamenei were given “limited time” to speak before the discussion was cut off and a vote was held. United States and Israeli bombs struck the assembly’s office in Qom on March 3 while votes were being counted, according to Israeli officials. However, Iranian state media claimed the building had been evacuated in advance.The appointment defies not only international pressure but also the Islamic Republic’s own founding principles. The 1979 revolution was built on the rejection of hereditary rule, and the possibility of a son succeeding his father presents what analysts call a profound ideological dilemma for a system founded on the repudiation of monarchy.His father reportedly opposed the idea, fearing it would restore a monarchy-like structure, according to sources within the Assembly of Experts. An assembly member explained the choice by saying the candidate was picked based on the late Khamenei’s advice that Iran’s leader should “be hated by the enemy” instead of praised by it.President Trump had already declared the younger ayatollah “unacceptable” before the appointment, insisting that any new Supreme Leader would “have to get approval from us” and warning that without such approval, “he’s not going to last long.” Israeli officials have vowed to eliminate whoever succeeds the slain ayatollah. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also said the new leader was “not the change we’re looking for,” adding, “I believe it’s just a matter of time before he meets the same fate as that of his father.” In contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged “unwavering” support, and China opposed any targeting of the new leader.Ayatollah Khamenei now commands not only Iran’s military forces but also a stockpile of highly enriched uranium that analysts say could be used to build nuclear weapons should he choose to do so. He has previously advocated for reinterpreting his father’s fatwa against nuclear weapons and is considered among the most favorable to developing an Iranian nuclear program.A Pentagon official, speaking to the Sun on background, said it’s “too soon to say” if Ayatollah Khamenei will be worse than his father, but noted his focus will be “rallying the people against the United States, so I expect some interesting policy changes.” The official explained that the new leader “can’t gain support from all, so he is going for their equivalent of the middle among Persians.”Mr. Wood is more direct about the implications. Ayatollah Khamenei “will want to bring the fight to the United States and Europe,” he said. “Hit United States bases in Europe and energy infrastructure in the United States. Nothing is going to be off limits.”

‘Worse Than His Father’: Mojtaba Khamenei’s Rise From Behind-the-Scenes Power Broker to Iran’s Supreme Leader

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