Iran: Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei

Role

Qom seminary teacher.

Informal controller of Bayt-e Rahbari (Office of the Supreme Leader)

Rahbar (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei’s favoured second son, Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei is a cleric in Qom, now raised to ayatollah status, who many analysts see as his father’s preferred candidate to eventually succeed him as rahbar (GSN 1,157). However, there are other candidates and also considerable opposition to the idea of creating what critics call a new ‘monarchy’. Mojtaba benefits from very strong links with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) and is seen to control the Bayt-e Rahbari (Office of the Supreme Leader), notwithstanding the position of Gholamhossein Mohammadi Golpayegani as the latter’s chief of staff.

Sanctions

United States