Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader following the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The elder Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic Republic for nearly 40 years, was killed in an Israeli airstrike last weekend in one of the first actions of Operation Roaring Lion.
Mojtaba, 56, the late ayatollah's second son, was confirmed by the Assembly of Experts - a selection panel made up of 88 senior clerics - on Sunday evening.
However, as reported by the JC, his appointment was all but sealed last week under pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which apparently pushed for a rapid selection amid concerns of popular uprisings against the regime.
Kasra Aarabi, director of IRGC research at United Against Nuclear Iran, has described Mojtaba as "like his father - only on steroids".
Having joined the IRGC at 17, he fought in the "notoriously ideological" 27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division.
After his military service, he went on to study as a cleric at the "deeply conservative" Qom Shia Seminary, before joining the Office of the Supreme Leader.
But he retained close links with the IRGC and was believed to be the influential paramilitary's preferred candidate, despite his father reportedly asking for him to be removed from the running as he felt a system of hereditary succession was too similar to the monarchy that ruled Iran prior to the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Since his appointment was made public, the group has said it is "ready for complete obedience and self-sacrifice in carrying out the divine commands of the Guardian Jurist of the time, His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei".
And, according to a leaked IRGC report seen by Aarabi, Mojtaba played a "crucial role in commanding the violent suppression of Iranian civilians in the recent anti-regime protests".
Speaking before Mojtaba’s appointment, President Trump reiterated his desire for the US to play a greater role in Iran's governance.
"He’s going to have to get approval from us," he told ABC News when asked about the prospect of a new supreme leader.
"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.
"I don’t want people to have to go back in five years and have to do the same thing again, or worse, let them have a nuclear weapon."
It follows Trump's comments last week, in which he said Washington "has to be involved" in the selection of the next supreme leader.
Comparing the military operation against Iran to Washington’s effective takeover of Venezuela in January – which saw President Nicolás Maduro captured by US forces and Trump saying his administration would “run” the country through Vice President Delcy Rodriguez – he told Axios on Thursday: “I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy in Venezuela.”
In the same interview, he called Mojtaba "a lightweight" and said that his candidacy was "a waste of time" and "unacceptable".
In a separate interview with Politico, Trump said: “The reason the father wouldn’t give it to the son is they say he’s incompetent.
"I’m going to have a big impact [over Iran’s future leadership], or they’re not going to have any settlement, because we’re not going to have to go do this again.
"We’ll work with the people and the regime to make sure that somebody gets there that can nicely build Iran but without nuclear weapons.”
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