Who Is Mojtaba Khamenei?

Excerpt

With its head gone, the Islamic Republic now lurches forward like a zombie in search of a new one. The son of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba, appears to be next in line, a powerful behind-the-scenes figure long tied to the regime’s hardline military apparatus driving Iran’s confrontation with the United States.

If the regime chooses Mojtaba Khamenei (hereafter referred to as Khamenei) over other clerics associated with the so-called “reformist” camp—often elevated to project openness to negotiations with the West and appease domestic pressure, such as former president Hassan Rouhani—it signals that Tehran is opting for escalation over compromise during wartime.

It would also demonstrate that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime’s primary ideological and military power broker, has prevailed in shaping Iran’s domestic and foreign policy in the post-Khamenei era.

Such a choice would contradict the very revolutionary fervor that fueled the 1979 Islamic Revolution against the hereditary monarchy it overthrew. Yet moments of crisis tend to override revolutionary ideals.

Janatan Sayeh is the Iran analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, focused on Iranian domestic affairs and the Islamic Republic’s regional malign influence.