Mojtaba Khamenei named Iran's new Supreme Leader: All about Ali Khamenei's son who has amassed wealth over £100 million

Mojtaba Khamenei (Courtesy: Reuters)

Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been elected as Iran's new Supreme Leader following his father's killing in the February 28 US–Israeli strike. According to Iran International, Iran's Assembly of Experts elected Mojtaba, the second son of Ali Khamenei, as the next Supreme Leader.

Senior clerics of Iran's Assembly of Experts met on March 3 to discuss who should be chosen as the next Supreme Leader. With significant backing from the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mojtaba was finally elected to succeed his father.

Who is Mojtaba Khamenei?

Mojtaba is the second son of Ayatollah Ali Khameni who joined the Islamic military corps around 1987 shortly after finishing high school. Born in 1969 in the city of Mashhad (an important religious centre in Iran), Mojtaba served during the Iran-Iraq war in the Habib Battalion.

The 56-year-old never held public office and is not a high-ranking cleric. He spent his early years amid his father's rise as a leading cleric resisting the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

After his father rose to become Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei pursued advanced religious studies in Qom where he trained under some of the country's most respected clerics. He then went on to teach at the seminary himself as part of his clerical career.

Analysts have, for years, portrayed him as deeply connected to hardline conservative circles and the Guard, which remains a central pillar of the Islamic Republic's power structure.

Mojtaba married Zahra Haddad-Adel, the daughter of Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, an Iranian conservative politician and former Chairman of the Parliament. The couple is said to have three children, although little public information is available about them.

His wife, Zahra was among those killed in the US–Israel strikes carried out on February 28.

Mojtaba's net worth & properties

Although Mojtaba's precise net worth remains unclear, various reports suggest he controls an extensive investment network and is believed to be a multi-millionaire.

As per a Bloomberg report, the incoming Iranian Supreme Leader holds property and financial holdings valued at over £100 million (approximately Rs 1,229 crore). A substantial portion of this wealth is said to be concentrated along London’s exclusive “Billionaire’s Row”, where 11 properties reportedly linked to his network are collectively valued at about £100 million.

The report claims Mojtaba's financial assets include a luxury property in the United Kingdom valued at over $138 million.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's killing

Ali Khamenei was killed in a precision strike carried out by the United States and Israel on February 28, followed by which tensions have sharply escalated across the Gulf. Iran has since launched a series of missile and drone attacks in retaliation against US military facilities and allied bases throughout the region, and its forces have struck targets in countries including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

As per an unnamed Israeli military official who spoke to The Associated Press, within 60 seconds three separate targets - all key locations where Iran's top leadership was gathered - were struck, leading to the killing Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior figures, including the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other high-ranking officials.

This was not an abrupt strike; it followed years of meticulous intelligence gathering and sustained digital surveillance. American and Israeli intelligence agencies are reported to have spent months closely watching Ali Khamenei and the inner circle of his security detail before the strike that killed him.