Could Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the former supreme leader, take power in Iran?

Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has long been considered a contender to the post of the country's next paramount ruler – even before an Israeli strike killed his father at the start of the war last week – even though he has never been elected or appointed to a government position. 

US diplomats have for decades referred to younger Khamenei as “the power behind the robes” despite him being a secretive figure within the Islamic Republic.

Although Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen publicly since Saturday, when the Israeli air strike targeting the supreme leader's offices killed his 86-year-old father and his wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, Khamenei is believed to still be alive.

He has likely gone into hiding as American and Israeli air strikes continue to pound Iran, though state-run Iranian media have not reported on his whereabouts.

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Now with his father and wife considered by hard-liners as martyrs in the war against America and Israel, Khamenei's stock likely has risen with the aging clerics of the 88-seat Assembly of Experts who will select the country's next supreme leader.

Iran’s supreme leader is at the heart of the country’s complex power-sharing Shiite theocracy and has final say over all matters of state. He serves as the commander-in-chief of the country’s military and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

The country’s next supreme leader will gain control of an Iranian military and a stockpile of highly enriched uranium that could be used to build a nuclear weapon – should he choose to decree it.

He will also take power amid a US-Israeli war seeking to eliminate Iran's nuclear threat and military power, hoping also the Iranian people will revolt against the Iranian theocracy.

Theocratic dynasty

Mojtaba Khamenei’s name is circulating as a possible candidate to replace his father, despite the paradox of a potential theocratic dynasty ruling a republic that was built in opposition to the hereditary monarchy of the Pahlavi dynasty before it.

Other contenders for the leadership include Alireza Arafi, a member of the triumvirate that is currently acting as interim leaders, Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, a representative of the most conservative wing of the Shiite clergy, and Hassan Khomeini, grandson of Ruhollah Khomeini.

Read moreA look at who the frontrunners are for Iran's supreme leader position

Born in 1969 in the city of Mashhad, some 10 years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that would sweep Iran, Khamenei grew up as his father agitated against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

After the fall of the shah, Khamenei's family moved to Tehran, Iran's capital.

Khamenei fought in the Iran-Iraq war with a division of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, several of whom ascended to powerful intelligence positions within the force – likely with the backing of the Khamenei family.

After his father became supreme leader in 1989, Mojtaba Khamenei and his family soon had access to the billions of dollars and business assets spread across Iran's many bonyads, or foundations funded from state industries and other wealth once held by the shah.

'Everything is speculation over Khamenei succession but son set as favourite

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His own power rose alongside his father's, working at the heart of the supreme leader’s “Beyt” office in downtown Tehran, as “a combination of aide-de-camp, confidant, guardian of the temple, and kingmaker”, according to United Against Nuclear Iran, a US-based organisation.

"There is very little transparency in what the ‘Beyt’ does, and its actions are based on a lot of power games and patronage,” Jonathan Piron, a historian specializing in Iran for the Etopia research centre in Brussels, told FRANCE 24 in 2022.

“Mojtaba Khamenei was never elected; he was appointed to this position by his father, who wanted to surround himself with his most loyal supporters. Critics consider him a corrupt figure who benefits from his position at the head of the Office of the Supreme Leader because he is the son of Ali Khamenei."

Read moreIran postpones three-day funeral rites for late Ayatollah Khamenei

Khamenei’s critics have also decried his lack of theological knowledge as he only holds the title of “hojatoleslam” – an intermediate rank in the Shiite clergy.

According to Iran’s constitution, access to the highest office requires the rank of ayatollah marja (or “source of imitation”), being the head of a seminary, and proving many years of religious teaching experience.

A ‘forceful leader’

During his father’s rule Khamenei used his proximity to the leadership to amass his own power.

US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks in the late 2000s suggested that he served as his father’s “principal gatekeeper” and had been forming his own power base within the country. 

Khamenei “is widely viewed within the regime as a capable and forceful leader and manager who may someday succeed to at least a share of national leadership; his father may also see him in that light”, a 2008 cable read, also noting his lack of theological qualifications and age.

“Mojtaba is, however, due to his skills, wealth, and unmatched alliances, reportedly seen by a number of regime insiders as a plausible candidate for shared leadership of Iran upon his father’s demise, whether that demise is soon or years in the future,” it said.

The United States sanctioned him in 2019 during the first term of US President Donald Trump over working to “advance his father’s destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives”.

More recently, Khamenei worked closely with Iran's Revolutionary Guard that violently suppressed nationwide protests in January, the US Treasury has said.

A Bloomberg investigation published in late January found that he has built up a vast network of secret and lucrative investments via real estate acquisitions made through shell companies in London, Frankfurt and Dubai.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and Reuters)