Iran names Khamenei's son as new supreme leader
CNA
More than a week after US-Israeli strikes killed the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and plunged the Middle East into war, the clerical government's Assembly of Experts convened to choose 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei.
TEHRAN: Iran's ruling clerics on Sunday (Mar 8) appointed the slain leader's son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country's new supreme leader, defying threats from the United States and Israel to oppose him.
Nine days after US-Israeli strikes killed the elder Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and plunged the Middle East into war, the clerical government's Assembly of Experts convened to choose their next leader.
An announcer on state television solemnly read a statement from the 88-member Assembly of Experts next to a picture of the 56-year-old new leader, who bears a striking resemblance to his father.
Mojtaba Khamenei "is appointed and introduced as the third leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the decisive vote of the respected representatives of the Assembly of Experts", the statement said.
It said that the clerical body "did not hesitate for a minute" in choosing a new leader, despite "the brutal aggression of the criminal America and the evil Zionist regime".
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