Who is Mojtaba Khamenei?
bbc.co.uk/news/live/cz0g2yg357…

V BBC Monitoring:
At 56, Mojtaba Khamenei is increasingly viewed as a possible successor, particularly after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in 2024, who had been widely seen as a frontrunner. However, observers have pointed to his lack of governing experience and his father's declared opposition to hereditary succession as major obstacles.

Both Ali Khamenei and his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had criticised hereditary succession in the context of the Pahlavi monarchy, which was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. An Iranian cleric once noted that the supreme leader had opposed the idea of naming his son as his successor.

Mojtaba was married to Zahra Haddad-Adel, the daughter of prominent conservative politician Gholam‑Ali Haddad‑Adel, who served as the Speaker of Iran's Parliament from 2004 to 2008. She was killed in the strike on the supreme leader's residence on 28 February.

Viewed by many as a shadowy hardline figure, Mojtaba has long been regarded as a potential successor to his father. He is reported to have strong ties to the IRGC, Iran's security apparatus

in July 2005 reformist politician and presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi accused him of interfering in the 2005 presidential election in support of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who went on to win.

In January 2026, Bloomberg reported that luxury homes in London formed part of "a network stretching from Tehran to Dubai and Frankfurt" whose ultimate ownership traced back to Mojtaba Khamenei, "through layers of shell companies".

The outlet said he "oversees a sprawling investment empire" that has "helped Khamenei to channel funds" into Western markets, despite US sanctions imposed on him.