Iran names new supreme leader as oil surges above US$100 a barrel
Son of Khamenei named supreme leader as the Middle East conflict drives up global energy prices and snarls air travel
Iran on Monday named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, signalling that hardliners remain firmly in charge, as the week-old US-Israeli war with Iran pushed oil above US$100 a barrel.
Mojtaba, a cleric with influence inside Iran’s security forces and vast business networks under his father, had been viewed as a front runner in the lead-up to Sunday’s vote by the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 clerics tasked with choosing Ali Khamenei’s successor.
“By a decisive vote, the Assembly of Experts, appointed Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei as the third Leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Assembly said in a statement issued just after midnight Tehran time.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on naming the new supreme leader, said it is the manifestation of Iran’s will to strengthen national unity.
The position gives Mojtaba the final say in all matters of state in the Islamic Republic.
Mojtaba’s appointment will likely draw the ire of US President Donald Trump, who said on Sunday that Washington should have a say in the selection. “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long,” he told ABC News.
Israel, ahead of the announcement, threatened to target whoever was chosen.