Iran names Khamenei’s son as new supreme leader

CNN-March8th2026

Senior clerics selected Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father after another day of strikes across the Middle East. A senior Iranian official warns the war is entering a “new phase.”

Here’s the latest

• JUST IN: Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei the country’s new supreme leader, state media reports, cementing hardliners’ grip on power following the killing of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. US President Donald Trump previously said Khamenei’s son would be an “unacceptable” selection, and warned a new leader won’t “last long” without Trump’s support.

• US service member killed: A seventh US service member has died from wounds sustained in the war with Iran, US Central Command announced.

• School strike: New video appears to confirm a US airstrike targeted a naval base next to an Iranian elementary school where more than 160 students were killed last month, adding to a body of evidence contradicting Trump’s recent claims casting blame on Iran.

• New phase of the war: A senior Iranian official told CNN the Middle East conflict is entering a “new phase” and threatened retaliatory strikes on energy infrastructure across the region.

Iran names Khamenei’s son the new supreme leader

From CNN staff

Mojtaba Khamenei named Iran’s new supreme leader

00:58

Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei the country’s new supreme leader following the killing of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes on February 28, the state-run media announced early Monday.

He was selected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of elected senior clerics tasked with choosing the supreme leader.

The assembly has chosen a new leader only once before since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979. It was when Ali Khamenei was hastily selected following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini more than three decades ago.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he must be “involved in the appointment” of Iran’s next leader and that the choice of Khamenei’s son was “unacceptable” to him.

Mojtaba, 56, is Khamenei’s second son and is known to wield significant influence behind the scenes and has strong links with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the most powerful military body in the country, as well as its Basij volunteer paramilitary force.

Mojtaba is not a high-ranking cleric and has no official role in the regime. He was sanctioned by the US in 2019. The US Treasury had accused him of working closely with the commander of the IRGC-Quds Force and the Basij to advance what it described as his father’s “destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives.”

Israel targeted Mojtaba in a strike last week, according to an Israeli source familiar with the matter. But Israel believes he was only injured in the attempt.

This post has been updated with more background on the new supreme leader.