Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s assassinated former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, assumed the role of the country’s new Supreme Leader following his father’s killing earlier this year. A member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, Mohsen Heydari, has now disclosed that American and Israeli forces targeted Mojtaba not once but twice during the initial wave of strikes, and described how Iranian forces pulled him from beneath rubble while he was barely alive.
In the strikes carried out in February, US forces hit a building where former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several senior officials were meeting. Ali Khamenei was killed instantly, while Mojtaba, critically injured, was rushed to a hospital for emergency treatment. According to Heydari, US-Israeli forces then struck the hospital itself in a second attack, destroying it completely. Iranian forces subsequently extracted Mojtaba safely from the wreckage and moved him to a secret location to save his life.
Beyond targeting Mojtaba directly, US and Israeli forces also struck members of the committee tasked with selecting Iran’s next Supreme Leader. A missile strike on the Qom Secretariat building, where the committee held its secret meetings, reportedly killed eight of its key members and destroyed official documents and recommendation reports that had been prepared to formalise Mojtaba’s succession.
US President Donald Trump had publicly warned against Iran choosing Mojtaba as its next leader. Heydari said that, undeterred by American pressure, Iran’s leadership selected Mojtaba regardless, viewing him as the only figure capable of guiding the country through the crisis. He added that Mojtaba was reportedly unaware he had been chosen until the announcement was made official, and accepted the role afterward given the circumstances.