Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, has been chosen as the country’s new supreme leader, according to announcements from Iran’s clerical leadership council. The decision comes as regional tensions continue to rise, with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East entering its tenth day and marked by renewed missile and drone attacks across several countries.
Members of the influential body responsible for selecting Iran’s highest political and religious authority confirmed the appointment on Sunday. Following the announcement, senior Iranian institutions and political figures publicly pledged their loyalty to the new leader. In a statement, the country’s defence council vowed unwavering support, declaring that it would obey the commander-in-chief “until the last drop of our blood.”
The succession is expected to intensify geopolitical tensions. Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump had identified Mojtaba Khamenei as the most likely successor and described such a scenario as unacceptable. Speaking on Sunday, Trump warned that Iran’s next supreme leader might face a short tenure if Tehran failed to secure approval from Washington.
When asked about the appointment in an interview with the The Times of Israel, Trump reportedly responded cautiously, saying, “We’ll see what happens.” During the same interview, he indicated that the timing of any potential end to the conflict would be decided jointly with Israel’s leadership.
Trump also emphasized his close cooperation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming their partnership had prevented Iran from destroying Israel. He argued that Tehran had broader ambitions in the region and that coordinated action had significantly weakened those plans.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military announced on Monday that it had carried out a series of strikes targeting what it described as “regime infrastructure” in central Iran. The operations marked the first publicly confirmed Israeli attacks since the appointment of the new supreme leader. Israeli forces also reported conducting strikes against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Elsewhere in the region, several security incidents were reported overnight. Rocket and drone attacks targeted a U.S. diplomatic facility near Baghdad International Airport, though Iraqi police said the projectiles were intercepted by the C-RAM defence system. Additional reports indicated a drone strike on a U.S. military base near Erbil airport in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Regional tensions have also spread to the Gulf. Authorities in Saudi Arabia said they intercepted a drone in the eastern part of the northern Al-Jawf region. In Bahrain, officials reported that an Iranian drone attack on the island of Sitra wounded 32 people, including a 17-year-old girl who sustained severe head and eye injuries, as well as a two-month-old baby.
