March 09, New Delhi – Mojtaba Khamenei has been appointed as the new Supreme Leader of Iran, nine days after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in strikes carried out by the United States and Israel amid the escalating war in West Asia.
The decision was announced by the 88-member Assembly of Experts, which said it acted swiftly despite what it described as aggression by the United States and Israel.
The 56-year-old new Supreme Leader is widely regarded as a hardliner with close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and is expected to continue the policies of his father amid the intensifying regional conflict.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump had earlier warned that any successor without American approval “will not last long.”
Israel had also previously stated that any new successor to the Ayatollah would be targeted.