Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has become the new Supreme Leader of Iran. He replaced his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on February 28th, within the first five minutes of the war.
The appointment was reported by Iranian state media.
Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed by a majority vote by the Assembly of Experts, a group of 88 influential Shia clerics. He is the third Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, after its founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Shortly before the announcement, the US President Donald Trump said in an interview with ABC that Iranʼs new supreme leader "wonʼt last long" unless he gets his approval.
- Israeli investigative journalist Ronen Bergman recounted how, in the first five minutes of the new war, Israel killed Iran’s Supreme Leader and almost the entire military command: about 40 key high-ranking officials. Babel retold his story.
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