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Mojtaba Khamenei (born September 8, 1969) is an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who has served as Iran’s third Supreme Leader since March 8, 2026. As a member of the Khamenei family and the second son of the second supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, he effectively acted as his father’s deputy chief of staff, supervising access to the latter’s office as well as all political and security concerns.
Following the assassination of his father in the 2026 Iran war, Mojtaba was elected as his successor by Iran’s Assembly of Experts. He has previously been sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury in 2019 as part of their policy of sanctioning individuals linked to Ali Khamenei.
In political ideology and jurisprudence, he is considered to be among the most hardline of the Iranian principalists, and has close ties to some of the “most ideologically extremist clerics” per a report from Atlantic Council.
Analysts have generally seen him as more favorable to developing an Iranian nuclear weapons program than his father, supporting a reinterpretation of Ali Khamenei’s fatwa against nuclear weapons.
Mojtaba Khamenei Biography
Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei was born on September 8, 1969, in Mashad, the second child of Ali Khamenei and Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh. His five siblings include his elder brother, Mostafa, his younger brothers Masoud and Meysam, and his younger sisters Boshra and Hoda.
His paternal grandfather, Javad Khamenei, was a low-income but highly regarded Shia priest and scholar. Khamenei has Persian and, to a lesser extent, Azeri ancestry, with his Azeri roots traced back to Khamaneh, a small hamlet in East Azerbaijan where his surname originates, as well as distant roots from Tafresh.
His family is descended from Husayn ibn Ali, the son of Ali, the first Shia Imam, and Prophet Muhammad’s maternal grandfather, hence Khamenei’s middle name Hosseini.
His boyhood coincided with his father’s rise to prominence as a key revolutionary against the Iranian monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He had his early education in the cities of Sardasht and Mahabad in northwest Iran over a seven-year period.
After graduating from Alavi High School (in Tehran), he pursued Islamic theology. His early mentors included both his father and Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.
Career
He also first joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps around 1987, after graduating from high school at the age of 17. He was a member of the Habib Bin Muzahir Battalion. He participated in various missions, including Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas 2, Operation Dawn 10, and Operation Mersad.
At 1999, Khamenei resumed his studies at Qom to become a cleric. His teachers there included Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, and Mohammad Bagher Kharazi.
Wikileaks published a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in London on August 21, 2008, saying that Khamenei was working alongside and under the guidance of Asghar Hejazi, his father’s Political and Security Deputy.
He was apparently ranked right below Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the chief of staff. Khamenei was accused of wielding substantial power over his father’s access and accompanying him on official visits across Iran.
His father would consult with him on a regular basis, and Khamenei would manage all political and security concerns pertaining to the Supreme Leader, while being briefed by former IRGC chief of staff Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr and commander Mohammad Ali Jafari.
He was also claimed to be connected to former Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, whom he advised politically, financially, and logistically.
In 2009, it was reported that Khamenei had taken command of the Basij; reformist critics blamed him for quelling protests over the 2009 presidential election.
The Guardian stated that “the strength of Mojtaba’s following has not been demonstrated,” and that while he wears clerical robes, he “by no means has the theological status” to become Supreme Leader.
In 2023, Iran International published leaked IRGC records suggesting that Khamenei effectively commanded the Basij and wielded great power over the assignment and dismissal of personnel in the Intelligence and Intelligence Protection Organization.
Mojtaba Khamenei was considered one of the most likely prospects to succeed his father as Supreme Leader. According to Iran International, Mojtaba Khamenei is preferred by the IRGC, which urged Assembly of Experts members to elect him on March 3 through “in-person meetings and phone calls.”
On the internet, it was rumoured that he had already been Supreme Leader since March 3, which was incorrect.. Some council members, including eight, expressed strong objection, stating that they would skip a second online electoral meeting scheduled for March 5.
On March 5, 2026, US President Donald Trump responded to news that Mojtaba Khamenei is up for election by declaring, “They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I need to be involved in the appointment.”
Trump also stated that Khamenei’s appointment is “unacceptable”. Khamenei was elected Supreme Leader in a “decisive vote” by the 88-member Assembly of Experts on March 8, 2026.
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei Wife
He married Zahra Haddad-Adel, the daughter of Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, in 1999. Their first kid was born in 2007. The first son is Mohamed Amin, followed by daughter Fatemeh Sadaat and second son Mohamed Bagher.
According to the Iranian government, in 2026, his wife, parents, and one of his sons were killed in US-Israeli air attacks.
Mojtaba Khamenei Net Worth
Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s late Supreme Leader’s son, is estimated to be worth more than $3 billion. His riches is credited to a huge network of holdings, which include luxury properties in London and Dubai, as well as high-end investments in Europe and the Middle East.
According to reports, he may control billions of pounds in assets through offshore accounts and shell companies, as well as mansions worth more than £100 million on London’s “Billionaire’s Row”.