[Profil] Iran: le nouveau guide suprême, Mojtaba Khamenei, influent successeur de son père
Appointed on Sunday to take the helm of Iran by succeeding his father, killed by US-Israeli strikes, as supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei is one of the most influential figures in the Islamic Republic.
The name of this 56-year-old religious figure had long been circulating as a possible successor to Ali Khamenei, even though the latter had denied such a scenario in 2024, when the Islamic Revolution ended centuries of hereditary monarchy in 1979.
Born on September 8, 1969 in the holy city of Mashhad (east), Mojtaba Khamenei is one of the six children of the former supreme leader - killed on February 28 at the age of 86 after more than three decades at the head of the state - and was the only one to have a public position in the absence of an official function.
Because of his discretion, his true influence gave rise to intense speculation for years among the Iranian population as well as in diplomatic circles.
Sporting a salt-and-pepper beard and the black turban of the "sayyed," the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, he has been portrayed by some as the real boss, operating behind the scenes in his father's office, at the heart of power in Iran.
He is considered close to the conservatives, particularly because of his ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic. This relationship dates back to his involvement in a combat unit at the end of the long Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988).
US President Donald Trump, who on Thursday claimed to be "involved" in the selection of the new supreme leader, had indicated that he would not accept his son taking over.
- Never elected -
The US Treasury stated in 2019, when imposing sanctions on him, that Mojtaba Khamenei "officially represented the Supreme Leader, although he was never elected or appointed to a government position, outside of his duties in his father's office."
According to the Treasury, Ali Khamenei had "delegated part of his responsibilities" to his son.
According to the website of the American organization, the latter "worked closely with the commander of the Quds Force" - the external operations branch of the Guardians - as well as with the Basij paramilitary forces, to "advance his father's destabilizing regional ambitions and his repressive domestic objectives."
Opponents have notably questioned Mojtaba Khamenei's role in the violent repression of the protest movement that followed the re-election of ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.
According to a Bloomberg investigation, Mojtaba Khamenei has become extremely wealthy by building a vast network of shell companies abroad.
On the religious front, he studied theology in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, where he also taught.
He attained the rank of Hodjatoleslam, a title given to clerics of intermediate rank, inferior to that of Ayatollah which his father and Ruhollah Khomeini held.
His wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, daughter of a former speaker of parliament, was also killed in the US-Israeli strikes that killed Ali Khamenei and his wife, according to Iranian authorities.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on Wednesday that any successor to Ali Khamenei would become "a target".
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