The 56-year-old, whom the U.S. president has called a “lightweight,” had been considered a likely replacement for his father, whom U.S. and Israeli forces assassinated.
The speaker of the Iranian Parliament stated that the selection of the new leader was “definitive and precise” and that the new leader was a “soothing balm,” according to state media.
The speaker added that the new leader was “faithful, revolutionary, courageous and prudent.”
The U.S. government sanctioned Mojtaba Khamenei in 2019. The U.S. Treasury Department said that the time that “the second son of the supreme leader is designated today for representing the supreme leader in an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position aside from work in the office of his father.”
“The supreme leader has delegated a part of his leadership responsibilities to Mojtaba Khamenei, who worked closely with the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and also the Basij Resistance Force to advance his father’s destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives,” the federal government said.
Trump told Axios last week that “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”
“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” he told the publication. “I have to be involved in the appointment.”