Mojtaba Khamenei is elected as Iranian Supreme Leader: Live updates

Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei has been elected as the new Supreme Leader of Iran, state media has confirmed.

It comes a week after his father was killed in Israeli airstrikes.

Mojtaba, 56, Khamenei’s second oldest son, 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 opposition outlet Iran International.

Mojtaba is not a high-ranking cleric, has never held office and does not have an official role in the regime.

But he served in the Iranian armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war and is believed to wield considerable influence behind the scenes. He has been touted as a possible successor to his father for years.

However, he was not included in a list of three senior clerics Ali Khamenei reportedly identified last year.

And his father is said to have indicated opposition to his candidacy because it would resemble the hereditary rule enacted by the US-backed Shah monarchy before it was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

The head of Iran’s Military Office Abu al-Qassem Baba’iyan has been killed in the latest wave of attacks, the IDF has claimed on X.

The military official was also the Chief of Staff of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

He is the latest major figure in the regime to be killed in Israeli strikes.

An IDF statement today said: ‘Baba’iyan was responsible for coordinating between the Iranian terror regime’s various force employment organizations to execute operations and emergency operations.’

Iran has responded to the US bombardment by launching a wave of missiles over the UAE.

If you’re just joining us, here are the main developments:

• A ‘river of fire’ engulfed Iran after an oil spill ignited Tehran amid ongoing US-Israeli air strikes.
• Israel says it will ‘pursue every successor’ of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran appoints its next Supreme Leader.
• Donald Trump criticises Sir Keir Starmer again, telling him: ‘We don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won.’
• At least 10 explosions were then heard over Tel Aviv as Iran sent a wave of missiles at Israel in retaliation for the overnight strikes.
• And a new wave of missiles targeted the UAE with hundreds of missiles and almost 1,500 drones detected, most of which were destroyed.

Born in 1969 in the holy city of Mashhad, he grew up as his father was helping to lead the opposition to the Shah.

His wife Zahra Adel and his mother, Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, are among the dead from Saturday’s strikes.

After a secondary education at the religious Alavi School, Mojtaba spent a few short stints in the military during the Iran-Iraq War, according to Iranian media.

He then continued his religious studies in 1999 in the holy city of Qom, while maintaining a low profile – in contrast to his father.

Indeed, the new Supreme Leader has been pictured very few times and has never given an official interview.

Mojtaba is not believed to have been one of the three names penned by his father last year as a potential successor, nor has he ever held government office.

Mojtaba Khamenei – who tonight was announced as the new Supreme Leader of Iran amid a continued escalation in the country’s conflict with the US and Israel – has previously been branded ‘unacceptable’ by US President Donald Trump.

His appointment comes just a week after his father Ali Khamenei was killed by targeted Israeli strikes.

And Trump this week made his feelings clear about the Ayatollah’s son.

Trump said somewhat sarcastically that ‘at some point they’ll be calling me to ask who I’d like’ to replace Khamenei.

The president has said he would personally select a new leader and Khamenei’s son Mojtaba was ‘unlikely’ and ‘unacceptable’.

Mojtaba Khamenei was not included in a list of three senior clerics Ali Khamenei reportedly identified last year.

And his father is said to have indicated opposition to his candidacy because it would resemble the hereditary rule enacted by the US-backed Shah monarchy before it was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Father-to-son succession is also viewed negatively in the Shiite Muslim clerical establishment in Iran.

But much of Iran’s top brass has been decimated in the latest conflict and Mojtaba has close ties with the powerful IRGC and the Basij volunteer paramilitary force.

Under Iran’s Islamic guardianship system, the Supreme Leader must be a senior leader with significant political authority.

While Mojtaba has not held senior political roles, he studied under religious conservatives in Islamic seminaries in the Shiite holy city Qom.

Ali Khamenei’s second oldest son Mojtaba Khamenei has tonight been announced as Iran’s new Supreme Leader.

Despite being sanctioned by the US in 2019, Mojtaba is said to oversee an investment empire of over £100million, with access to luxury properties in north London and bank accounts in the UK, Switzerland, UAE and Liechtenstein.

Mojtaba is said to own 11 properties on The Bishops Avenue – an exclusive street in Hampstead, north London, also known as ‘Billionaires’ Row’.

The Ayatollah’s second son owns the properties through a network of shell companies, one of which is registered in the tax haven of the Isle of Man.

Iranian protesters marching through the heart of London chanted ‘Trump and Bibi, thank you, thank you’ as they danced in celebration at the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A large throng of demonstrators, which the Daily Mail estimates to have been around 2,000-strong, marched from Whitehall down to the Israeli embassy in Kensington.

They called for the British government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the main branch of Iran’s military, as a terrorist organisation, as well as the installation of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the exiled king of the nation, to power in Iran.

Footage from the protest as it sat on Whitehall, which several major government departments including the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Office and the Cabinet Office call home, showed a mass of people chanting: ‘Trump and Bibi: thank you, thank you.’

Read more on the demonstration here:

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has refuted President Trump’s claims the Middle Eastern country ‘already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases, and would soon’.

He said: ‘This is not true. This is, in fact, disinformation.’

The minister added that Iran could develop missiles but they have ‘intentionally limited ourselves to 200km (124 miles) of range’.

Saudi Arabia has blocked a ballistic missile ‘launched towards Prince Sultan Air Base’, the nation’s Ministry of Defence has claimed.

The headquarters is situated 62 miles (101km) southeast of Riyadh.

It comes after the ministry said on X it had stopped two drone attacks ‘after shooting them down north of Riyadh city’.

The Foreign Office has today withdrawn some staff and dependents from Lebanon on a temporary basis.

It comes after the Middle Eastern country was again targeted by Israel, with strikes extending into parts of Beirut previously regarded as safe from attacks.

Meanwhile, the British Embassy in Lebanon continues to operate as normal, it confirmed on X.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his UAE opposite number Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan are pushing for an end to strikes in Iran and the Gulf states.

Lavrov’s ministry said today: ‘Attention [during the meeting] focused on the necessity of stopping attacks that lead to casualties among the civilian population and cause damage to civilian infrastructure both in the Arab countries of the … Gulf and in Iran.’

The UAE continues to have a good relationship with both Russia and Ukraine, while Russia remains an ally of Iran.

The Kremlin’s latest war with Ukraine entered its fifth year last month.