Name: Iran's new choice of leader shows "a message of defiance" | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-03-09T23:05:12.000Z
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Iran's clerics have chosen the country's new spiritual and political leader.

Basic passive voice

Mujtaba Khamenei is the son of the previous supreme leader, Ayatollah Khadi Khamenei, who was killed in US Israeli airstrikes at the start of the war.

The new man at the top is seen as a hardliner operating behind the scenes with close ties to the country's political and military establishment.

His appointment signals both continuity and the regime's defiance of its enemies.

As Iran's new supreme leader is announced, Moshtab Al Khamenei takes the reins from his father slain in US And Israeli strikes at the end of February.

Supporters of the Islamic regime have welcomed the succession.

Thank God someone became the leader who we are confident will avenge the blood of his father and will not compromise with America.

He is the rightful successor to the late leader.

I'm honored to support him and to make this country proud.

Mojtaba Khamenei is Iran's third supreme leader.

The 56 year old has kept a low public profile.

He's a mid rank cleric who's never held elected office, but

he's believed to have forged strong political and military connections.

The younger Khamenei's appointment is a sign of defiance and perhaps revenge.

His mother died alongside his father in the US And Israeli strikes, and

reports say his wife and other family members were also killed.

As Iran's most powerful figure, he will shape the nation's war strategy.

Iran's allies, including China and Russia, have thrown their support behind the new Ayatollah.

Donald Trump has previously called him unacceptable.

And Israel has vowed to kill anyone who fails to bring in reforms.

And for Iranians who oppose the Islamic regime, his appointment dims their hopes of systemic change.

Well, for more on Iran's leadership change, we can speak now with Simon Mabon.

He's a lecturer in international relations at Lancaster University in the uk.

Simon, what do you make of Iran choosing Mojtaba Khamenei as the country's new supreme leader?

Well, I think the sort of the signs were there.

There were rumors starting to come out of Tehran that it was going to be this sort of succession, this sort of choice.

And I don't think that's all that surprising in the sense that it sends a very strong, very clear message, a message of defiance, a message that says the Islamic Republic will live long and a message that says we will not go down without a fight.

And I think in that respect, it's the message that many were sort of expecting with this type of choice.

Someone who is strong, someone who is a hardliner, someone who is very, very close to the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

And it's a real message of defiance, I think.

But it's interesting, isn't it, that we have a succession situation that is not what you would in some countries, picking the deceased Supreme Leader's son to replace him sounds a bit like a hereditary monarchy.

How is that likely to go down with the Iranian people?

Well, it does sound like a hereditary monarchy, which is the very thing that the Islamic Republic fought against or was established after, and

the revolutionaries that were involved in toppling the Shah were so opposed to.

So now to be at a point where Ali Khamenei's son has been anointed, entered as the supreme leader seems to be the re implementation of a system of dynastic rule, which is obviously something that goes against the teachings of the Islamic Republic.

And I think in the longer term, this will prove to be a real owner of contention for a lot of people.

But this is a choice made in a particular moment.

For that particular moment, Iran is under heavy bombardment and I think was being made.

Look, there had to be a strong candidate that was picked in order to send this message of defiance.

Mojtabi Khamenei is considered a hardliner with deep connections to the dreaded Revolutionary Guard.

What could his appointment mean for those in Iran who've been pushing for reforms, who were out on the streets in January demanding change?

Yeah, I think that's going to be taken really badly by those that were in any way hoping for some type of change.

It's pretty clear that Mujtaba has been the power behind the robes, as one US diplomat put it a few years ago.

And in that role, he's sort of overseen the repression that many Iranians have faced, be it those protesting earlier this year or earlier into the instances of protests that have taken place across Iran.

So I think it's deeply worrying for those in Iran wanting change, for those wanting the regime to change, not necessarily even hoping for regime change.

So I think it's a worrying step in that regard.

But it does highlight the desire from people within the Islamic Republic to put on this strong face and to line everything up, if you will, to make sure that the irgc, the Revolutionary Guard and the Supreme Leader are singing from the same hymn sheet, so to speak.

What can you tell us about how this choice of Supreme Leader might impact the direction of the war?

Can we expect this new leader to be more hands on than his predecessor?

I mean, Ali Khamenei, Mujtaba's father, was in his late 80s and he was very unwell.

He was not rarely seen, he was not often seen in public over the past few years.

And that I think is a consequence of his age and his health.

I would imagine that there will be a more hands on approach taken by Mojitaba and I think he will be more visible in one way, shape or form.

Granted, given the context and given that the Israelis have already said that he will be a target.

So I think we'll see a more belligerent form being taken by Mujtaba.

I think we'll see more definition, defiant tone taken.

I think we've also got to factor in the personal dynamics in his position right now that he's lost his, both his father and his mother in the same strike from the US against whom he has held very, very strong views, very deep seated anger, animosity, if not hatred over the past few decades.

I don't think it bodes well for those wanting a diplomatic solution to the crisis, to the conflict.

I think it's more this doubling down on Iran's current position.

Simon, thank you very much for talking with us.

That was Simon Mabon, Lecturer in International Relations at Lancaster University.

Rojin Mukrayan of University College Cork in Ireland is a specialist in Middle east politics with a focus on Iran.

And she told me the choice of Moshabakhamenei as Iran's new Supreme Leader comes as no surprise.

I think for many people it's not a sudden elevation because the discussion or the question of succession for a long time has shaped Iranian politics.

And I think behind the closed door there was already, even before this war started, there was a relatively consensus among the assembly experts that who will be their next successor.

So to look at Mojaba Khamenei's announcement, like as a supreme leader, this is not a huge surprise for many people.

However, what is surprising and what is significant, many expected that after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was targeted in the first day of the Israel and US attacks, they were expecting a collapse within the command and control structures.

Because Khamenei, the Supreme Leader has a very significant and important Role within the Iranian politics, it has the ultimate decision making.

But it seems that there were some expectations and some like already planned within the command and control structure how to like manage war without a Supreme Leader.

And I think that in the short term they come up with figurehead and to announce it as a Supreme Leader, that tells us that there were already a decision behind a closed door about this.

But what is also challenging from many's perspective is that during the 1979 revolution, Ayatollah's promised to bring an end to the hereditary transfer of power.

But now we see that the son of the previous former Supreme Leader came to power.

So in light of what you just said about the command and control structure, does it even matter who leads Iran now, even if it would have been not such a hardliner?

Well, the Iranian politics has its own unique structure.

Like at the top we have the Supreme Leader which has the ultimate power and is the final decision making figure.

But behind the Supreme Leader office we have a set of different institutions that they are organized based on a horizontal like distribution of power.

And each institution has its own command and control structure.

So he's going to like who's going to be next leader.

Of course it matters in many ways to bring all these diverse institutions behind the Supreme Leader together, to hold them together.

So in case of especially war, the role of the Supreme Leader is very essential because we have very dispersed power structure behind his office.

And in the lack of a final decision maker, there can be chaos.

Like in the previous, we saw that for example, President Pezechian offered or issued apology to the Gulf countries, neighboring countries for attacking them.

But after that, straight away we saw that military officials came out and said, no, we're going to continue our attack as long as Iran and Israel is going to attack us.

So we saw that some level of dispute among different institutions began to emerge few days ago.

But now that they announced the next Supreme Leader, we should wait and see how he's going to bring all these diverse or dispersed like institutions together again and keep the coherence within the system.

So if I understand you correctly, we can expect more defiance.

How sustainable is this level of response?