Mojtaba Khamenei, the influential son of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is alive and widely viewed as a leading candidate to succeed his father, two Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
Ali Khamenei, 86, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his compound in Tehran, marking the first time a country’s top ruler has been assassinated in such a strike. The attack also killed his wife, another son and several senior military and political figures, according to Iranian sources.
The sources said Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was not in Tehran when the strike destroyed the compound.
Large crowds of mourners were expected in Tehran later Wednesday as the body of the late leader was prepared to lie in state at the Imam Khomeini Prayer Hall. The venue is named after Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic and Iran’s first supreme leader.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts – the clerical body responsible for selecting the country’s supreme leader – is expected to announce a successor soon.
“The Supreme Leader will be identified in the closest opportunity, we are close to a conclusion. However the situation in the country is a war situation,” Assembly member Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told state television.
The candidates have already been identified, he said, but did not name them.
Mojtaba Khamenei is widely seen as the frontrunner. Over the years he has built influence within Iran’s security apparatus and its powerful economic networks. Analysts say choosing him would signal that hardliners remain firmly in control.
Another possible contender is Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ruhollah Khomeini, who is associated with the more reformist wing of the Iranian establishment.
Israel signalled it would continue targeting Iran’s leadership.
“Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people – will be an unequivocal target for elimination,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said. “It does not matter what his name is or the place where he hides.”
Meanwhile, fighting between Iran and its adversaries intensified. The United States and Israel continued strikes on Iranian targets, while Tehran launched retaliatory missile attacks.