REPORT: Newly-Elected Iranian Supreme Leader Injured

Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was injured during the opening wave of the U.S.-Israeli strike campaign that killed his father and gutted Tehran’s senior leadership, according to reports, raising fresh questions about how stable the regime’s succession really is.

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, the son of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, survived what was described as an Israeli assassination attempt during the Feb. 28 launch of Israel’s Lion’s Roar operation, carried out alongside the U.S.-led Operation Epic Fury. Other strikes in that first barrage killed his father and roughly 40 other high-ranking Islamic Republic leaders.

The details remain murky. Reports said Mojtaba was wounded, but it was not clear how seriously, where he was hit, or whether he was targeted inside the late ayatollah’s compound or in a separate strike elsewhere. His location has not been confirmed publicly, and he is believed to have gone deeper underground as the U.S. and Israel continue hammering remaining regime targets.

Also reported killed was Mojtaba’s wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, who came from a family deeply tied to Iran’s theocracy and political elite.

Mojtaba has long been favored by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and hardline clerics to take over the regime after his father’s death, despite rumblings inside the Assembly of Experts about turning Iran’s theocracy into what looks like a dynastic handoff. The Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body, has formal authority to appoint the supreme leader.

The regime moved quickly after Ali Khamenei’s death, and reports have said the assembly’s deliberations shifted to a virtual format after the building used for the leadership process was damaged or destroyed in recent strikes.

Mojtaba’s reputation inside Iran is that of a behind-the-scenes operator with deep ties to the security services, a hardliner known for sticking close to his father’s anti-Western worldview. Supporters in the regime see him as continuity. Critics see him as a symbol of how entrenched the Islamic Republic has become.

President Trump, for his part, has sounded skeptical that swapping one Khamenei for another changes anything. He has also slammed the idea of Mojtaba taking power, saying it would not bring the war to a close.

“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” Trump said this week.

“We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”

Trump has not offered Mojtaba any legitimacy and has not sounded interested in rubber-stamping a successor installed by the same clerical machine that has ruled Iran for decades.

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