Mojtaba Khamenei

Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei (born 8 September 1969) is an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who has served as the supreme leader of Iran since 2026. A member of the Khamenei family and the second son of second supreme leader Ali Khamenei, he previously served as Vakil of the Supreme Leader during his father's rule from 2008 to 2026.

Born in Mashhad, Khamenei was raised in a conservative religious household, and graduated from high school in Tehran. He then studied Islamic theology under the guidance of his father and Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. He joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 1987 and served in the Iran–Iraq War. In 1989, he began studying in Qom to become a cleric, and later joined the Qom Seminary as a theology teacher. He took control of the Basij paramilitary volunteer militia in 2009.

Western analysts long considered Khamenei a likely candidate to replace his father as Supreme Leader, despite some unverified reports that Ali Khamenei had opposed his accession. Following his father's assassination during the 2026 Iran war, Khamenei was elected the third supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts. Khamenei was injured in the airstrike that killed his father and has remained absent from public view since his appointment, causing confusion over his fate. The US has placed a $10 million bounty via the Rewards for Justice Program for information on him.

In political ideology and jurisprudence, Khamenei is considered to be more hardline than his father and has close ties to some of the "most ideologically extremist clerics" according to a report from the Atlantic Council, a pro-NATO think tank.