JAKARTA - Iran’s Assembly of Experts announced on Sunday, March 8, that Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old second son of assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been selected as the Islamic Republic's third supreme leader.

The announcement came from Iran's state broadcaster IRIB and was confirmed by the Fars, Tasnim, and ISNA news agencies on Sunday March 8, eight days after US-Israeli strikes killed Ali Khamenei in Tehran on February 28. The Assembly's statement said Mojtaba had been chosen in a “strong vote” and called on Iranians to unite behind him.

According to Iran International, the IRGC had mounted repeated in-person meetings, phone calls, and psychological pressure on the 88-member clerical body to back Mojtaba, with the vote held on March 3. The announcement was then held for five days, reportedly over fears that Israel and the US would target Mojtaba the moment his name was made public.

Mojtaba becomes just the third person to hold the title, after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic in 1979, and his own father, who led it for nearly 37 years. He served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Supreme Leader for Political and Security Affairs from 1999 until his appointment.

His wife Zahra Adel, his mother Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, and his son were killed in the same February 28 strikes that killed his father, according to Iranian state media. Mojtaba himself was not present at the strike location.

Before the appointment, US President Donald Trump had said the choice would be “unacceptable.” Trump told ABC News hours before the announcement was made, “He’s going to have to get approval from us. If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long.”

“We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don't have a president like me that's not going to do it.”

As of March 9, oil prices surged above $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022 as the escalating war involving Iran threatens global energy supplies. Tehran has previously warned it could target tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route carrying about 20% of the world’s oil.