Iran’s Assembly of Experts has elected Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei as the third Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, following the martyrdom of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
The decision was announced in an official statement issued after an extraordinary session of the clerical body responsible for appointing the country’s leader.
In its statement, the Assembly of Experts expressed condolences over the martyrdom of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other victims of recent military attacks by US and Israel, including senior commanders and civilians.
According to the Assembly, members convened immediately after news of the Leader’s martyrdom despite wartime conditions and security threats. The body said its secretariat offices had been targeted in airstrikes, resulting in the deaths of several staff members and security personnel. Nevertheless, representatives from across the country gathered to hold an emergency meeting to ensure continuity in the leadership of the Islamic Republic.
Following deliberations, the Assembly announced that Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei was selected with an overwhelming majority of votes as the new leader of Iran.
The statement emphasized the importance of maintaining unity and political stability, calling on the Iranian public, as well as religious and academic elites, to support the new leadership.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was born in 1969 in Mashhad. He completed his secondary education at Alavi School before pursuing religious studies. In 1986, at the age of 17, he joined the Iranian forces during the Iran-Iraq War and took part in several operations.
He later continued his religious education in Qom, attending the classes of prominent clerics such as Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Mohsen Kharazi and Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani. After years of advanced study, he taught high-level jurisprudence courses in Qom for two decades, from 2004 to 2024.
