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Iran Media Review content-type in which the post is published

Renewed Speculation About Mojtaba Khamenei

The January 21 edition of the Iran Media Review analyzes commentary in response to a Washington Post editorial suggesting the supreme leader’s son has been chosen to be his successor.

Ali Alfoneh

In political systems without strong and legitimate democratic institutions, succession is often mired in some level of crisis and uncertainty: The leader often hesitates to appoint a successor designate fearing losing power while he is still alive; the regime has less time to groom the eventual successor and prepare the society for the transition. However, there is some indication that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may be preparing the ruling elites, society, and even the world for his son Mojtaba’s leadership. The latest example of this was the official Tehran Times’ response to a January 10 Washington Post editorial on Mojtaba Khamenei as the future leader of Iran. While Tehran Times dismisses The Washington Post’s claim, a reference to “a request from a number of assembly members to consider one of his sons for future leadership positions” may serve the purpose of gradually normalizing the concept of dynastic succession in the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

  • January 12: The English-language Tehran Times‘ front page featured an article with the headline: “Why is Western Media Constantly Lying About Mojtaba Khamenei? Washington Post becomes the latest outlet to spread blatant lies about the Leader’s son.” Columnist Soheila Zarfam wrote:  
    • “The Washington Post published an article Friday riddled with baseless claims, including that Ayatollah Khamenei is ill and that his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been chosen as his successor by Iran’s ‘clerical elders.’ The article’s claims are easily debunked … the Leader’s past statements and actions also demonstrate his opposition to his children entering politics, much less succeeding him. Further supporting this, Ayatollah Mahmoud Mohammadi Araghi, a member of the Assembly of Experts, has stated that the Leader rejected a request from a number of assembly members to consider one of his sons for future leadership positions. The Tehran Times, through its sources, has verified that Ayatollah Khamenei remains resolute in his opposition to any of his sons’ succession, and the Assembly of Experts is respecting that.” Tehran Times also quoted Parviz Amini, a politics professor, who argues that the West “continues to peddle this narrative of a dynastic succession” with the goal of discrediting “the legitimacy of Iran’s institutions, fostering an image of an undemocratic state.”  
  • January 14: Reformist Entekhab News Agency released a summary of the Tehran Times article in Persian. 
Ali Alfoneh

is a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He is the author of Political Succession in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Demise of the Clergy and the Rise of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (2020).

The views represented herein are the author’s or speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of AGSIW, its staff, or its board of directors.

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