Failson or fanatic? A closer look at Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader
Be honest—this is ridiculous.
Supreme leadership over Iran, currently the most dangerous office in the world, now seems to be a hereditary affair.
The Assembly of Experts — Iran’s deliberative body responsible for selecting the nation’s supreme leader — announced this week that the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be succeeded by his son, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei.
While not a shock to international observers, the decision to select the late ayatollah’s son to replace him is a distinct break from the principles of the Islamic Republic — a violent uprising that succeeded in toppling the system of hereditary monarchy under the shah.
“They are violating a basic rule in their system, where the hereditary order is not an Islamic Republic order,” Zineb Riboua, research fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, told the Washington Examiner.
This image, taken from a video provided by Iranian state TV, shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran’s slain supreme leader, who has been named the Islamic Republic’s next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
When the Islamic Republic of Iran was established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979, the country embraced the rogue holy man’s philosophy of Velayat-e Faqih, or the “Guardianship of the Jurists.” In this system, Islamic legal scholars hold the highest authority in both religious and social affairs.
Under the Islamic Revolutionaries’ own ideology, it is supposed to be the most competent and well-formed Islamic scholar who leads in a firm, explicit rejection of the hereditary monarchy of the toppled Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Maryam Rajavi, president of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, issued a scathing rebuke of the decision, highlighting the irony of Khamenei’s father-to-son transfer of power.
“Tonight, the absolute clerical rule has effectively turned itself into a hereditary monarchy by placing Mojtaba Khamenei on the throne,” Rajavi wrote. “But it cannot save the shipwrecked vessel of religious fascism.”
The National Council of Resistance of Iran — born out of the militant, Islamo-Marxist People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran — is one of many Iranian diaspora opposition groups that have sought the overthrow of the ayatollah for decades.
In the statement written by Rajavi, the group denounced Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment as a recommitment to the Islamic Republic’s most repressive ideological tenets.
“For more than three …
Be honest—this is ridiculous.
Supreme leadership over Iran, currently the most dangerous office in the world, now seems to be a hereditary affair.
The Assembly of Experts — Iran’s deliberative body responsible for selecting the nation’s supreme leader — announced this week that the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be succeeded by his son, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei.
While not a shock to international observers, the decision to select the late ayatollah’s son to replace him is a distinct break from the principles of the Islamic Republic — a violent uprising that succeeded in toppling the system of hereditary monarchy under the shah.
“They are violating a basic rule in their system, where the hereditary order is not an Islamic Republic order,” Zineb Riboua, research fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, told the Washington Examiner.
This image, taken from a video provided by Iranian state TV, shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran’s slain supreme leader, who has been named the Islamic Republic’s next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
When the Islamic Republic of Iran was established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979, the country embraced the rogue holy man’s philosophy of Velayat-e Faqih, or the “Guardianship of the Jurists.” In this system, Islamic legal scholars hold the highest authority in both religious and social affairs.
Under the Islamic Revolutionaries’ own ideology, it is supposed to be the most competent and well-formed Islamic scholar who leads in a firm, explicit rejection of the hereditary monarchy of the toppled Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Maryam Rajavi, president of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, issued a scathing rebuke of the decision, highlighting the irony of Khamenei’s father-to-son transfer of power.
“Tonight, the absolute clerical rule has effectively turned itself into a hereditary monarchy by placing Mojtaba Khamenei on the throne,” Rajavi wrote. “But it cannot save the shipwrecked vessel of religious fascism.”
The National Council of Resistance of Iran — born out of the militant, Islamo-Marxist People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran — is one of many Iranian diaspora opposition groups that have sought the overthrow of the ayatollah for decades.
In the statement written by Rajavi, the group denounced Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment as a recommitment to the Islamic Republic’s most repressive ideological tenets.
“For more than three …
Failson or fanatic? A closer look at Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader
Be honest—this is ridiculous.
Supreme leadership over Iran, currently the most dangerous office in the world, now seems to be a hereditary affair.
The Assembly of Experts — Iran’s deliberative body responsible for selecting the nation’s supreme leader — announced this week that the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be succeeded by his son, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei.
While not a shock to international observers, the decision to select the late ayatollah’s son to replace him is a distinct break from the principles of the Islamic Republic — a violent uprising that succeeded in toppling the system of hereditary monarchy under the shah.
“They are violating a basic rule in their system, where the hereditary order is not an Islamic Republic order,” Zineb Riboua, research fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, told the Washington Examiner.
This image, taken from a video provided by Iranian state TV, shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran’s slain supreme leader, who has been named the Islamic Republic’s next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
When the Islamic Republic of Iran was established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979, the country embraced the rogue holy man’s philosophy of Velayat-e Faqih, or the “Guardianship of the Jurists.” In this system, Islamic legal scholars hold the highest authority in both religious and social affairs.
Under the Islamic Revolutionaries’ own ideology, it is supposed to be the most competent and well-formed Islamic scholar who leads in a firm, explicit rejection of the hereditary monarchy of the toppled Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Maryam Rajavi, president of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, issued a scathing rebuke of the decision, highlighting the irony of Khamenei’s father-to-son transfer of power.
“Tonight, the absolute clerical rule has effectively turned itself into a hereditary monarchy by placing Mojtaba Khamenei on the throne,” Rajavi wrote. “But it cannot save the shipwrecked vessel of religious fascism.”
The National Council of Resistance of Iran — born out of the militant, Islamo-Marxist People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran — is one of many Iranian diaspora opposition groups that have sought the overthrow of the ayatollah for decades.
In the statement written by Rajavi, the group denounced Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment as a recommitment to the Islamic Republic’s most repressive ideological tenets.
“For more than three …
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