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  "path": "/news/world/iran-new-leader-ayatollah-khameneis-hardline-son-named-as-supreme-leader",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-08T21:19:14.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Donald Trump humiliates Keir Starmer over dithering Iran response: 'We don’t need people who’ve joined wars after we’ve already won!'",
    "Man arrested in London after 'Iranian anti-regime protester' smashed with bottle",
    "Tony Blair takes turn to scold Keir Starmer over Iran indecision: 'You better show up!'",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nIran has chosen a new Supreme Leader after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the first day of the war last weekend.\n\n\nMojtaba Khamenei, the late Ali Khamenei's son, has been announced as the new premier of Iran, according to Iranian state media.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMojtaba was chosen by the \"assembly of experts\", a body of 88 Islamic scholars that have been selected by their loyalty to the regime.\n\nIran President Masoud Pezeshkian, head of the judiciary Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and Alireza Arafi, head of the Basij, a paramilitary volunteer militia within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Alireza Arafi, have been chosen as the leadership council on a temporary basis.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe trio had a selection from a six-man candidate shortlist.\n\nKhamenei is said to own high-end Kensington properties, totalling more than £50million in value. The apartments sit just a short distance from the Israeli embassy.\n\nMojtaba is said to have owned these properties since 2014, according to Bloomberg, and is part of a much wider portfolio of UK property.\n\nKhamenei's connection with the UK runs even deeper than a property portfolio. In 1998, he travelled to London with his wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, to undergo fertility treatment, with Khamenei eager for heirs.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe treatment resulted in the birth of his only son, Bagher. Both Bagher and Zahra were killed along with Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes last weekend.\n\nPresident Trump insisted he should have a role in picking the next leader, Iran categorically rejected this suggestion.\n\n\"The fate of dear Iran, which is more precious than life, will be determined solely by the proud Iranian nation, not by [Jeffrey] Epstein’s gang,\" Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Friday.\n\nAyatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir previously said the candidate would be picked based on Ali Khamenei's advice that any successor should be \"hated by the enemy\".\n\n\"Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,\" he said, merely days after Donald Trump said choosing Khamenei, 56, would be \"unacceptable\", dismissed him as a \"lightweight\".\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS FROM IRAN\n\n\n\n\n  * Donald Trump humiliates Keir Starmer over dithering Iran response: 'We don’t need people who’ve joined wars after we’ve already won!'\n  * Man arrested in London after 'Iranian anti-regime protester' smashed with bottle\n  * Tony Blair takes turn to scold Keir Starmer over Iran indecision: 'You better show up!'\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mojtaba in 2019, saying he represented the Supreme Leader in \"an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position\" aside from working in his father's office.\n\nIts website said Khamenei had previously delegated some of his responsibilities to Mojtaba, who it said had worked closely with the commander of the IRGC's Quds Force and the Basij, a religious militia affiliated with the Guards, \"to advance his father’s destabilising regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives\".\n\nMojtaba was a particular target for criticism by protesters during unrest over the death of a young woman in police custody in 2022, after she was arrested for allegedly breaching the Islamic Republic's strict dress codes.\n\nIn 2024, a video was widely shared in which he announced the suspension of Islamic jurisprudence classes he was teaching at Qom, fuelling speculation about the reasons.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe supreme leader has the final say on matters of state, including foreign policy and Iran's nuclear programme. Western powers want to prevent Tehran developing nuclear arms.\n\nIran says its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only.\n\nMojtaba could face opposition from Iranians who have shown they are ready to stage mass protests to press their demands for greater freedoms despite bloody crackdowns by the authorities.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Ayatollah Khamenei's hardline son named as Iran's new Supreme Leader"
}