On March 8, 2026, Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei was selected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts as Supreme Leader, after his father was killed in airstrikes during the 2026 US-Israeli-Iran conflict.
Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei was born on September 8, 1969, in Mashhad, Iran. He is the second son of Ali Khamenei, who ruled as the Supreme Leader of Iran from 1989 until his death in 2026.
Mojtaba got married to Zahra Haddad-Adel in 1999. According to the Iranian government, in 2026, the US–Israeli killed Haddad-Adel in airstrikes alongside one of her three sons. 
His upbringing in a powerful clerical family influenced his education and profession. He studied Islamic theology in the seminary in Iran’s main religious learning centre, Qom. Then he became a Shiite cleric (religious leader educated in an Islamic seminary who interprets Islamic law) and religious teacher.
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Mojtaba’s Political History and Influence
Mojtaba always kept a low profile. He served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the late years of the Iran-Iraq War.
Mojtaba Khamenei always operated behind the scenes in Iranian politics, particularly within his father, Ali Khamenei’s office. He was heavily involved in managing the Office of the Supreme Leader as he controlled access and shaped decisions in Tehran.
Mojtaba became widely known during the controversial 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, known as the Green Movement. The opposition politicians accused him of helping secure a victory for conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, influencing the election process and coordinating the crackdown on protesters afterward.
His service in the IRGC earned him strong ties to the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia, and an influence in Iran’s security system and other economic networks tied to the state.
The appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Supreme Leader has since been controversial. This is because it resembled a familial transfer of power, which Iran’s Islamic Republic originally opposed.
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