Is picking the surviving son as new Iran leader a 'symbolic gesture?'
USA TODAY
Experts think as new Iranian leader Mojtaba Khamenei settles in, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard will have significant power as ongoing war escalates.
Tapping Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's supreme leader more than a week after the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was a matter of necessity, according to two experts on Iranian politics.
After a group of clerics named the son to the top post amid the escalating U.S.-Israel war on Iran, Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow specializing in Iranian politics for the Middle East Institute, told USA TODAY that Mojtaba Khamenei's "name has been mentioned for years as a potential successor, but his father was always against him taking the helm.
"This wasn’t preordained, but the conditions allowed for it," Vatanka said.
Meanwhile, Mojtaba Khamenei's selection has angered President Donald Trump, who believes he and his adminstration should have had a say in choosing the next Iranian leader.
An Iranian diplomat confirmed to The Guardian on March 11 that the 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded in the initial Feb. 28 airstrikes that killed his father and several family members. The younger Khamenei has yet to make a public statement since he was named as successor.
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