Free Republic

Mojtaba Khamenei has stepped out from the bunker to make his first comments as Iran’s new supreme leader, more or less. It was on state media, the same propaganda tool that tried to claim his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was still alive after we turned him into an ashtray in the initial wave of attacks during Operation Epic Fury. Mojtaba was reportedly badly injured in an airstrike, losing one or both legs and being put into a medically induced coma. He is unaware of his new role as leader, the deaths of his family members, or the broader war. We’re...

Danclever: HAVE YOU SEEN HIM? Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not yet appear publicly since assuming power. For a regime that never stops talking, the silence is deafening. #Danclever #usa #iran

During the first hour of Operation Epic Fury, Iran's Islamic government was obliterated. An Israeli airstrike struck a leadership meeting at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's compound in Tehran around 8 a.m. (Tehran time) on February 28. Not only was Khameini killed, but the casualty list included about 40 other senior officials who could reasonably be in the line of succession. In fact, it seems as though the mullahs have elected one of the victims of the airstrike, Mojtaba Khamenei, as their Grand Poohbah. He hasn't been seen (White House Trolls Iran As Regime Tries to Hide ‘Supreme Leader’ Condition – RedState)...

Iran’s new Supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei released his first statement Thursday vowing to use the “lever” of closing the Strait of Hormuz to international energy shipping — after reports circulated that he was in a coma and had his leg amputated after being severely injured in the US-Israeli strikes that killed his father and other family members. The lengthy message was read out on Iranian state TV by an anchor as an image of Khamenei was displayed on screen, a break from tradition. No explanation was given for why the 56-year-old did not appear in the flesh, with experts suggesting...

Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was a no-show at his own succession rally in Tehran — and observers speculate that he’s either wounded or hiding out in fear. As thousands gathered on Monday to celebrate Khamenei’s appointment as the country’s new supreme leader, the nepo-baby mullah was represented by a mere portrait — one that was half the size of dad Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s. The portrait of the dead leader took up the center of the stage, according to state media footage of the event. “It’s either he’s out cold in a hospital, or he’s scared and hiding...

TEHRAN — Iranian government officials have reached out to the American Democratic Party for advice on how run a country with a dead leader. After enduring mockery for presenting the public a cardboard cutout of the new Ayatollah, Iranian officials decided it was time to reach out for help on how to to go about running a nation lead by a stiff. "We could really use some pointers," said Iranian official Yasser Khosravi. "We worked really hard on 'Cardboard Khamenei', cut out little shoes for him and everything. I thought stapling flowers to his forehead was really a nice touch....

Iranian regime loyalists displayed a taped-together cardboard cutout of their new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured in recent strikes and has not been seen since his elevation. The makeshift stand-in appeared at a pro-regime rally in Tehran, where organizers brought the life-size cutout of Khamenei onto the stage, according to Israeli journalist Amit Segal. Regime loyalists hailed and swore allegiance to the cutout, which appeared crudely assembled and held together by strips of tape, Segal reported. Khamenei has not appeared in public or issued a statement since being selected as Iran’s new supreme leader on Sunday following...

Mojtaba Khamenei has been named Iran’s new supreme leader, succeeding his father just more than a week after he was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes. A statement from the Assembly of Experts — the panel of Shia clerics responsible under Iranian law for choosing the country’s top leader — said Mojtaba Khamenei had been selected as the third leader of the Islamic Republic, according to reports from IRIB state TV and the Fars, Tasnim and ISNA news agencies. Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, the second son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is widely viewed as a hard-line figure with close ties to the powerful...

VIDEOThe son of the former Ayatollah who recently met his end, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been reportedly WOUNDED shortly after assuming the role of Supreme Leader of Iran. At this time it is unknown if the new Ayatollah is severely wounded or merely "John Kerry wounded."

Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment as Iran’s supreme leader is the kind of hereditary transition that his father once rejected.Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, has been appointed to succeed his father as the new head of the Islamic Republic. The younger Khamenei was named supreme leader by the top clerical body - the Assembly of Experts - in a statement published shortly after midnight on Monday (Mar 9) in Iran. Other contenders for the top position had included Alireza Arafi, one of the three members of the interim council running the country, hardliner Mohsen Araki, and...

Defiant Iran hardliners rejoiced this morning as Ali Khamenei's son was named the new Supreme Leader - while vowing to increase missile attacks on infrastructure. Mojtaba Khamenei, excluded from a list of three senior clerics his father reportedly identified last year, was on Sunday announced as the Ayatollah's successor after being appointed by the regime's 88-person assembly. The leader has strong links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was chosen by Iran's Assembly of Experts 'under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards', according to Iranian media. And the 56-year-old Khamenei's potential impact on the escalating conflict in the Middle...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son has been wounded in the Iran war, it emerged today after he was named as the country's new Supreme Leader. Mojtaba, 56, the second son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was announced as his successor on Sunday after being appointed by the regime's 88-person assembly - despite previous opposition from his father. The 'vengeful' hardline cleric is already marked for assassination by Israel after it vowed to 'eliminate' whoever succeeded the slain Ayatollah, having killed him and Mojtaba's wife Zahra Haddad-Adel in strikes on the first day of the conflict. In one report on his...

Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of the country’s slain supreme leader, as his father’s successor, according to a statement from top clerics published on state media. His ascension, announced early Monday morning, signals the government’s desire for continuity as Iran faces expanding attacks from the United States and Israel nine days into the war. Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was appointed by a committee of senior Shiite clerics after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in the country for more than three decades, was killed in an airstrike during the opening blow of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. He is...

It's official. How long will this guy live? Who will take the guy out? Israel or U.S.? Bonus points if pick location and method.

Iran's fragile regime suffered another blow today as reports emerged that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the man briefly installed as supreme leader, has been killed... Mojtaba, long viewed as the hardline favorite to inherit power despite no formal public role, was reportedly named successor earlier this week amid chaos and Israeli warnings that any new leader would become a target,.. Circulating accounts, including from sources inside Iran, claim Mojtaba was eliminated today—his tenure lasting mere hours—after strikes hit his location. Social media erupted with claims of confirmation, including posts noting his "career" from appointment...

Iran is reportedly delaying naming a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader killed over the weekend in U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, for security concerns as Israel has asserted that it will target whoever is instated, while President Donald Trump has doubled down on wanting to influence the selection. The New York Times reported, citing two unnamed Iranian officials, that while Khamenei’s second-eldest son, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei, has emerged as the strongest contender to take Tehran’s top job, no one has been named out of fear that they will be targeted.

There are few anecdotes about him, and pictures, at least ones that have appeared publicly, are scarce. The younger Khamenei operates behind an elaborate security structure, an overlapping world that stretches from Iran's Revolutionary Guards to the motorcycle-riding Basiji. That accumulation of control was used to outflank reformists such as Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hossein Ali Montazeri, revered figures of the Islamic Revolution who years ago had questioned the senior Khamenei's qualifications as supreme leader. The violence that has erupted over the last week -- state media have reported that 10 to 19 people have died -- were in part the...

Iran's supreme leader's second son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has emerged as one of the driving forces behind the government's crackdown, diplomats and observers said. Mojtaba is an ally of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the disputed president, and was credited with winning his father's endorsement for the then Tehran mayor in the 2005 elections, leading to Ahmadinejad's shock second round victory. Mojtaba is an austere figure, generally seen as more hardline than his father and has become a gatekeeper for access to the beit-e-rahbari, the supreme leader's home, and the supreme leader himself. According to some Iran analysts, Khamenei, 70, is manoeuvring to position...