Iran names Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, new supreme leader
Iran on Monday named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father, Ali Khamenei, as supreme leader, signaling that hardliners remain firmly in charge in Tehran a week into its conflict with the United States and Israel, Reuters reports. Mojtaba, a mid-ranking cleric with influence inside Iran’s security forces and vast business networks under his father, had […]
Iran on Monday named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father, Ali Khamenei, as supreme leader, signaling that hardliners remain firmly in charge in Tehran a week into its conflict with the United States and Israel, Reuters reports.
Mojtaba, a mid-ranking cleric with influence inside Iran’s security forces and vast business networks under his father, had been seen as a frontrunner in the lead up to the vote by the assembly, a body of 88 clerics charged with choosing the new leader after Ali Khamenei.
“By a decisive vote, the Assembly of Experts, appointed Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei as the third Leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the assembly said in a statement issued just after midnight Tehran time.
The position gives Mojtaba the final say in all matters of state in the Islamic Republic.
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Mojtaba’s appointment will likely draw the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, who said on Sunday that Washington should have a say in the selection. “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long,” he told ABC News. Israel, ahead of the announcement, threatened to Mojtaba’s father, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was killed in one of the first strikes launched against Iran more than a week ago.
The U.S. military on Sunday reported a seventh American has died from wounds sustained during Iran’s initial counter-attack a week ago, a day after Trump presided over the return to the United States of the remains of the six others who died.
The U.S.-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador.
As Trump pressed for an “unconditional surrender,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, said Tehran was not seeking a ceasefire to the war and would punish aggressors.
Israel continued to target senior Iranian figures, including Abolqasem Babaian, the recently appointed head of the military office of the supreme leader, saying he was killed in a Saturday strike. (Reuters)
Air ‘unbreathable’
Israel’s reach was underlined by two new operations overnight – strikes against fuel dumps in and around Tehran, and an attack on a hotel in the heart of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut that targeted suspected Iranian commanders.
Warplanes hit five oil facilities in and around the Iranian capital, killing at least four people, according to a state oil executive.
Tehran’s governor told the IRNA news agency that fuel distribution had been “temporarily interrupted” in the capital.
A dark haze hung over the city of 10 million people, blocking out the sun, and the smell of burning fuel lingered in the air.
Authorities warned the fumes could be toxic and urged citizens to stay indoors, but many windows were blown out by the force of the blasts.
“The blaze has been burning for more than 12 hours, and the air has become unbreathable. I can’t even go out to do the daily shopping,” said one 35-year-old from Tehran.
“At first, I supported this war. After Khamenei’s death, I celebrated with my friends: we drank wine, and we danced.
“But since yesterday… people say there’s not even any gasoline left at the gas stations,” she said in a text message to Europe.
As the war extended into its ninth day, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had enough supplies to continue their drone and missile war over the Middle East for up to six months.
Several blasts were heard over Israel’s commercial hub, Tel Aviv, after the Israeli military said it had detected a salvo of missiles from Iran. The Magen David Adom emergency services said six people were wounded in central Israel.
US ground troops may move into Iran
Trump again refused to rule out sending American ground troops into Iran, but continued to insist that the war was all but won despite the ongoing Iranian missile and drone strikes.
Guards’ spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used only first- and second-generation missiles, but would use “advanced and less-used long-range missiles” in the coming days.
Saudi Arabia intercepted a wave of drones headed for targets including the diplomatic quarter in its capital, Riyadh. Kuwait said an attack hit fuel tanks at its international airport, and Bahrain reported a water desalination plant had been damaged.
Iran’s health ministry said Sunday that at least 1,200 civilians had been killed and around 10,000 wounded – figures the media could not independently verify.
Lebanon’s health minister said at least 394 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes since Lebanon was dragged into the war a week ago, including 83 children and 42 women.
Two Israeli soldiers have been killed during the fighting in southern Lebanon, the military said.
Trump, meanwhile, attended the return of the bodies of six American service members killed in a drone strike on a US base in Kuwait last Sunday.
‘No clear path to ending war’
Analysts warn there is still no clear path to ending a conflict that US and Israeli officials say could last a month or longer.
Trump has suggested Iran’s economy could be rebuilt if a leader “acceptable” to Washington replaces the late supreme leader.
China and Russia have largely stayed on the sidelines despite close ties with Tehran.
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said the war in the Middle East should “never have happened”, telling a press conference in Beijing: “The world cannot return to the law of the jungle.”
On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV prayed “that the roar of the bombs may cease, the weapons may fall silent, and a space for dialogue may open”.