THE NEXT AYATOLLAH

Iran Defies Trump With Appointment of New Supreme Leader

President Donald Trump called Ali Khamenei’s son “unacceptable” as a successor earlier this week.

The 56-year-old son of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a U.S.-Israeli strike last week, has been chosen as his father’s successor. Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment as Supreme Leader suggests that hardliners, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, remain firmly ‌in charge in Tehran, Reuters reports. President Donald Trump had demanded last week that he be involved in the appointment of Iran’s supreme leader—the Islamic Republic’s head of state and spiritual leader. He had called Mojtaba Khamenei “unacceptable” and a “lightweight.” Mojtaba Khamenei, whose wife, mother, and other family members were also killed in the U.S. attack, had largely kept a low public profile but was long considered a central power broker in Iran’s clerical establishment and has been accused of exerting influence over past Iranian presidential elections. Mojtaba Khamenei was elected to be Iran’s Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of Islamic jurists elected by the public. Trump said earlier on Sunday that any new Iranian leader “is not going to last long” if the Iranians do not first secure his approval.