On Tuesday, word leaked that the council of clerics, officially called the Assembly of Experts, had completed its most important task. This group of clerics is charged with selecting the successor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, and although they are said to have done their part, they have yet to make their decision official.
Knowledgeable sources say that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is the council’s preferred choice.
Who is Mojtaba Khamenei as a Person?
Mojtaba Khamenei was born on 8th September 1969. He is the second-born in Khamenei’s family, and has been working closely with his late father until his death last week at the age of 86.
Khamenei is said to be a hardliner just like his late father, and even in 2019, the US added his name to a list of individuals they wanted the government to sanction.
He received his early education in the cities of Sardasht and Mahabad in Iran. He proceeded to study Islamic theology after completing high school, under the tutelage of his late father and another renowned Iranian-Iraqi Shia cleric, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.
Why has Iran not announced the Supreme Leader’s Successor?
Iran fears that naming Mojtaba as his father’s successor might make him a greater target of the US and Israel, more than he already is.
Iran may also wish to first address leadership issues, given that many senior leaders have been eliminated in the ongoing war. Among the key leaders killed is Ali Shamkhani, who served as Ayatollah Khamenei’s adviser.
Another is Mohammad Pakpour, who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, commonly referred to simply as IRG.
Other senior Iranians killed in the same strike as those two are Abdolrahim Mousavi, who was the country’s Armed Forces’ Chief of Staff, and Aziz Nasirzadeh, the country’s Minister of Defense.
Meanwhile, the world is waiting to hear that the US and Israel have hit Iran enough so that life can go back to normal. The strikes in the Gulf countries, including Qatar and the UAE, are not only affecting their citizens but also the thousands of foreign residents who work there.