Mojtaba Khamenei

Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran?

Answer: Mojtaba Khamenei is the second eldest son of Ali Khamenei and was born in Mashhad in 1969.

He was married to Zahra Haddad Adel, the daughter of former Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, until she was killed during the 2026 U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

During his early childhood, his father rose as an Islamic revolutionary figure opposing the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The family later moved from Mashhad to Tehran, where Mojtaba attended Alavi High School, known for educating members of Iran’s political and religious elite. He received both a general and religious education and graduated in 1987. Two years later, he began formal clerical studies in Tehran. Mojtaba was frequently seen alongside his father and was regarded as an influential behind the scenes figure for years and close to the U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO) Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Who is Ali Khamenei, former Supreme Leader of Iran and Mojtaba Khamenei's father?

Answer: Ali Khamenei was Iran’s supreme leader for more than three decades. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he rose from a dissident cleric to a senior government official, holding key posts in the regime, including president from 1981-1989. Following the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, Khamenei became the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Khamenei supported multiple terrorist groups in the Middle East who have American blood on their hands and held strong anti-American views often calling the U.S. “The Great Satan.”

Ali Khamenei died on February 28, 2026, after Israeli strikes hit his compound in Tehran, killing the longtime Iranian supreme leader and reducing his compound to rubble.

How did Mojtaba Khamenei become the Supreme Leader of Iran?

Answer: On March 8, 2026, it was announced that Iran’s Assembly of Experts had elected Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new supreme leader.

In 2019, the United States sanctioned Mojtaba under Executive Order 13867. The U.S. Treasury Department stated that he had been “representing the supreme leader in an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position, aside from work in his father’s office.”

President Donald Trump said in early March 2026 that he is "not happy" over the new leader’s election.

"I don’t believe he can live in peace," Trump said in an interview with Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.

What are Mojtaba Khamenei's views?

Answer: Mojtaba Khamenei holds views similar to his father and former Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei, if not more extreme, when it comes to anti-Americanism, antisemitism and anti-Western ideologies.

Kasra Aarabi, director of research at the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital that Mojtaba allegedly relocated IRGC command centers to his office during protests, engineered election outcomes and installed loyalists across state institutions.

In his first statement as supreme leader, which was read by a news anchor on Iranian state television, Khamenei, who was not on camera, stated, “I assure everyone that we will not refrain from avenging the blood of your martyrs. The retaliation we have in mind is not limited only to the martyrdom of the great leader of the Revolution; rather, every member of the nation who is martyred by the enemy constitutes a separate case in the file of revenge,” the Associated Press reported.

Experts say Mojtaba’s leadership shows all the signs of continuing his father’s extremism rather than pursuing reform and change.