DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has lengthy been thought-about a contender to the publish of the nation’s subsequent paramount ruler, even earlier than an Israeli strike killed his father on the start of the war last week and regardless of by no means having been elected or appointed to a authorities place.
A secretive determine inside the Islamic Republic, Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen publicly since Saturday, when the Israeli airstrike concentrating on the supreme chief’s workplaces killed his 86-year-old father. Also killed have been the youthful Khamenei’s spouse, Zahra Haddad Adel, who got here from a household lengthy related to the nation’s theocracy.
Khamenei is believed to nonetheless be alive and sure has gone into hiding as American and Israeli airstrikes continue to pound Iran, although state-run Iranian media haven’t reported on his whereabouts.
Profile of Khamenei’s son rises after airstrike
Mojtaba Khamenei’s identify continues to flow into as a doable candidate to exchange his father, which had been criticized up to now as probably making a theocratic model of Iran’s former hereditary monarchy.
But now together with his father and spouse thought-about by hard-liners as martyrs within the battle towards the United States and Israel, Khamenei’s inventory possible has risen with the growing older clerics of the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, who will choose the nation’s subsequent supreme chief.
Whoever turns into the chief will acquire management of an Iranian navy now at battle and a stockpile of extremely enriched uranium that might be used to construct a nuclear weapon, ought to he select to decree it.
Khamenei had occupied the same position to that of Ahmad Khomeini, a son of Iran’s first Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, which was “a combination of aide-de-camp, confidant, gatekeeper and power broker,” in keeping with United Against Nuclear Iran, a U.S.-based strain group.
And U.S. President Donald Trump could have not directly boosted his candidacy by criticizing Khamenei in an interview with information web site Axios on Thursday and insisting he be concerned in deciding on Iran’s subsequent chief.
“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment,” Trump mentioned, referring to his operation that noticed the U.S. navy seize former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me,” Trump added. “We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”
Born into dissent
Born in 1969 within the metropolis of Mashhad, some 10 years earlier than the 1979 Islamic Revolution that might sweep Iran, Khamenei grew up as his father agitated towards Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
An official biography on Ali Khamenei’s life recounts one second when the shah’s secret police, the SAVAK, broke into their dwelling and beat the cleric. Woken up after, Mojtaba and the remainder of Khamenei’s kids have been instructed their father was occurring trip.
“But I told them, ‘There is no need to lie.’ I told them the truth,” the elder Khamenei was quoted as saying.
After the autumn of the shah, Khamenei’s household moved to Tehran, Iran’s capital. Khamenei would go on to struggle within the Iran-Iraq battle with the Habib ibn Mazahir Battalion, a division of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that might see a number of of its members ascend to highly effective intelligence positions inside the drive, possible with the backing of the Khamenei household.
His father turned supreme chief in 1989, and shortly Mojtaba Khamenei and his household had entry to the billions of {dollars} and enterprise property unfold throughout Iran’s many bonyads, or foundations, funded from state industries and different wealth as soon as held by the shah.
Power rises together with his father’s
His personal energy rose alongside his father’s, working inside his workplaces in downtown Tehran. U.S. diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks within the late 2000s started referring to the youthful Khamenei as “the power behind the robes.” One recounted an allegation that Khamenei really tapped his personal father’s telephone, served as his “principal gatekeeper” and had been forming his personal energy base inside the nation.
Khamenei “is widely viewed within the regime as a capable and forceful leader and manager who may someday succeed to at least a share of national leadership; his father may also see him in that light,” a 2008 cable learn, additionally noting his lack of theological {qualifications} and age.
“Mojtaba is, however, due to his skills, wealth, and unmatched alliances, reportedly seen by a number of regime insiders as a plausible candidate for shared leadership of Iran upon his father’s demise, whether that demise is soon or years in the future,” it mentioned.
Khamenei has labored intently with Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, each with commanders of its expeditionary Quds Force and its all-volunteer Basij that violently suppressed nationwide protests in January, the U.S. Treasury has mentioned.
The United States sanctioned him in 2019 throughout Trump’s first time period over working to “advance his father’s destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives.”
That contains allegations that Khamenei from behind the scenes supported the election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 and his disputed re-election in 2009 that sparked the Green Movement protests.
Mahdi Karroubi, who was a presidential candidate in 2005 and 2009, denounced Khamenei as “a master’s son” and alleged he interfered in each votes. His father reportedly on the time mentioned Khamenei was “a master himself, not a master’s son.”
Powers of supreme chief at stake
There has been just one different switch of energy within the workplace of supreme chief of Iran, the paramount decision-maker for the reason that Islamic Revolution. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died at age 86 after being the figurehead of the revolution and main Iran by means of its eight-year war with Iraq.
Now the brand new chief will come on board after the 12-day battle with Israel and as a U.S.-Israeli battle with Iran is looking for to eradicate Iran’s nuclear menace and navy energy, hoping additionally the Iranian individuals will stand up towards the Iranian theocracy.
The supreme chief is on the coronary heart of Iran’s advanced power-sharing Shiite theocracy and has closing say over all issues of state. He additionally serves because the commander-in-chief of the nation’s navy and the Guard, a paramilitary drive that the United States designated a terrorist organization in 2019, and which his father empowered throughout his rule.
The Guard, which has led the self-described “Axis of Resistance,” a collection of militant teams and allies throughout the Middle East meant to counter the U.S. and Israel, additionally has in depth wealth and holdings in Iran. It additionally controls the nation’s ballistic missile arsenal.
