Even before Raisi’s death, Mojtaba was beginning to outshine the late president – whose leadership dissatisfied many, given growing economic woes and much corruption – as described to The Telegraph by IRGC commanders, members of the Basij paramilitary force, and Iran experts.
Mojtaba exploded into the public eye at the age of 17, when he disappeared for a week in March 1985 while serving on the front lines of the Iraq-Iran war. At the time, his father had yet to ascend to the role of supreme leader.
Then, there was little to indicate that a lanky teen – viewed by IRGC commanders as hapless in war – would someday be tipped for the regime’s elite ranks.
Ali Fazli, a commander of the IRGC during the war, later wrote in his memoir: “His martyrdom is not a problem, but if he is captured, it will be very costly for us in terms of publicity.”
Mojtaba was later rescued along the border with Iraq, and has since managed to turn the tables in his favour – despite not holding an official position within the regime.
“Top commanders are speaking very highly of him,” a member of the IRGC told The Telegraph.
He has become so influential that he even holds secret meetings daily with many IRGC commanders, said a professor of political science in Iran, whose name has been withheld as it is too dangerous to openly discuss the issue of succession.
Mojtaba has also successfully pulled the political strings at least twice – in 2005, and then again in 2009, when he’s believed to have manipulated elections in favour of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad held the presidency for eight years until 2013.
Clues on how Mojtaba might lead can be gleaned from the policies of his hard-line father, as well as his own inner circle.
That group includes some of Iran’s most ideologically extreme clerics: Mehdi Taeb, the brother of a former IRGC intelligence head; Alireza Panahian, who plays a leading role in the IRGC’s indoctrination programme; and Mohmmad Qomi, head of the Islamic Propaganda Organisation, according to a 2023 report by the Atlantic Council.
But even with the elder Khamenei’s careful positioning, Mojtaba’s ascent won’t be certain until it happens.
First, it would be unprecedented – in 1989, the son of Iran’s first supreme leader failed in his attempt to succeed his father, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Public opposition is also expected – chants calling for the younger Khamenei’s death circulated during mass nationwide protests in late 2022: “Mojtaba, you will die; you will never see the leadership.”
