Iran Chooses New Supreme Leader
Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in recent U.S.-Israeli strikes, as its next supreme leader. Source link
All posts tagged: Ali Khamenei
Iran Transformed | Arang Keshavarzian
On February 28 Israeli warplanes assassinated Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, by dropping thirty bombs on his compound in Tehran. It was the opening salvo of the US and Israel’s joint war of choice. Within a day missile attacks and aircraft sorties had done grave damage across the country: in southern Iran airstrikes hit a girls school, killing at least 175 people, most of them children between seven and twelve. Mostly lost in the unrelenting news cycle were reports that the US and Israel had also bombed the historic center of Tehran, which houses the nineteenth-century Golestan Palace and the entrance to the city’s Grand Bazaar. A brief video clip of the aftermath showed a few disoriented men milling around, caught up in the fog of war. Nine weeks earlier that bazaar had been at the center of a very different upheaval. In late December shopkeepers, moneylenders, and merchants there took to the streets, igniting an immense wave of protests against the regime that was brutally repressed by Iran’s security apparatus. When they unleashed this week’s …
Israel threatens to target successor to Iran’s supreme leader – POLITICO
Israel justified the attacks as a preemptive strike to protect itself. U.S. President Donald Trump, after days of mixed signals from the White House on the justifications and aims of the war, said on Friday that the ultimate goal is “unconditional surrender” by the Islamic Republic’s leaders. The continuing attacks haven’t stopped Tehran from seeking a successor to Khamenei. Iran’s Mehr news agency reported on Sunday that Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the clerical body tasked with selecting the next leader, had reached a decision, although the name hasn’t been announced yet. “The vote to appoint the leader has taken place and the leader has been chosen,” Ahmad Alamolhoda, a member of the Assembly of Experts, was quoted as saying by Mehr. He said the secretariat of the body will announce the name later. Ayatollah Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, the head of the assembly’s secretariat, will be responsible for announcing the decision. Among the top criteria for the next leader is that they should “be hated by the enemy,” according to a member of the selection panel, Reuters reported. The assembly’s …
Iran to halt strikes on neighbors unless attacked from there: Pezeshkian – POLITICO
The Iranian president said that the country’s interim leaderhip council, appointed after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last Saturday, had approved a new directive on responding to military threats, according to a copy of the remarks published by state-controlled broadcaster Press TV. Under the new policy, Iranian forces are prohibited from targeting neighboring states unless an attack against Iran is launched directly from that country’s territory. The comments came as intense Iranian fire targeted the Gulf Arab states early Saturday as Israel and the United States kept up their airstrikes targeting the Islamic Republic, the Associated Press reported. There were repeated attacks Saturday morning on Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the AP report. After days of mixed signals from the White House on the justifications and aims of the war on Iran, Trump on Friday said his administration’s ultimate goal is “unconditional surrender” by the Islamic Republic’s leaders. Trump later said that “surrender” could be a complete defeat of Iran’s military forces. “Unconditional surrender could be” an announcement by …
Senate votes to block war powers resolution
Canada does not rule out military participation in Iran war: Carney Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he would not rule out military participation in the Iran conflict, according to media reports. When asked if he could definitively say Canada would not get involved militarily, Carney said, “One can never categorically rule out participation.” In a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Carney said that Canada will stand by its allies, but also maintained that the U.S.-Israeli strikes are “inconsistent with international law.” — Lim Hui Jie Pentagon provides names of the remaining two soldiers killed in Kuwait attack The Pentagon has provided the names of the fifth and sixth U.S. Army Reserve soldiers who were killed. They are: Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, Calif. Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa O’Brien died on March 1 in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, during an unmanned aircraft system attack, per the press release. “Marzan was at the scene of the incident on March 1, 2026, in Port Shuaiba, …
Why Khamenei’s killing hit Putin where it hurts – POLITICO
“They showed the entire world how he was killed, covered in blood,” Putin, visibly angry, said during a televised press conference at the time. “Is that democracy?” In May 2012, not long after Gaddafi’s overthrow, Putin returned to the presidency after a stint as prime minister. He took to the job on an apparent mission to break with the West and root out domestic dissent, which he accused of seeking to work with Russia’s enemies to achieve regime change. “It was precisely Gaddafi’s death that became a turning point in Russian politics — both foreign and domestic,” writes Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center based in Berlin. In May 2012, not long after Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow, Putin returned to the presidency after a stint as prime minister. | Mario Tama/Getty Images That the U.S. and Europe would allow a global leader to be overthrown so brutally was seen by Putin, a former KGB agent, as “the height of treachery,” Baunov said. With the passing of years, Putin has sunk into …
Six U.S. service members killed
Speaker Johnson says Iran attack was ‘defensive operation’ U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to the media following a briefing for Congressional leaders on the situation in Iran, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 2, 2026. Ken Cedeno | Reuters Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Monday said following a classified briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the U.S.’s attack on Iran was a “defensive operation,” the goal of which was not regime change. “Israel was determined to act in their own defense here. With or without American support. Why? Because Israel faced what they deemed to be an existential threat,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol following the briefing. “The objective was to take out those missiles, the short and midrange missiles, and their ability to produce them,” Johnson said, adding that the second objective was to eliminate Iran’s naval capabilities. “The ayatollah is no more. That was not the mission of the U.S. to go in and take out the regime, but that happened and in my …
Iran war prediction market bets draw heat: ‘Insane this is legal’
Sen. Chris Murphy, D–Conn., speaks next to his guest Fereshteh Ganjavi, an Afghan refugee and founder of Elena’s Light, during the “People’s State of the Union” event ahead President Trump’s State of the Union address in Washington, Feb. 24, 2026. Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters Prediction markets are facing renewed scrutiny from federal lawmakers after wagers about the fate of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the Saturday bombardment of Iran. “It’s insane this is legal,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., in a post to X, referring to another post highlighting people who had made money on the invasion. “People around Trump are profiting off war and death. I’m introducing legislation ASAP to ban this.” CNBC has reached out to Murphy’s office for more details on his proposal. It comes as a new trade group led by President Donald Trump’s former acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Gambling Is Not Investing, launched to push tighter guardrails on prediction markets. Other lawmakers, too, have expressed concern about prediction markets after the invasion. Rep. Mike …
How Iran chooses its supreme leader, and who could be next?
FILE PHOTO: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting with students in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2024. Office Of The Iranian Supreme Leader | Via Reuters Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death following joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes has thrust Iran’s leadership into the urgent process of selecting a new supreme leader. Under Iran’s constitution, the supreme leader is appointed by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body elected by the public every eight years. Candidates for the Assembly are first vetted by the Guardian Council, tightly controlling who can run. When the position becomes vacant, the Assembly convenes to deliberate and select a successor. The decision requires a simple majority vote. In the interim, a provisional three-member leadership council assumes the supreme leader’s duties until a replacement is formally appointed. On Sunday, local media reported that the temporary council comprises President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei and Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, who serves as the Guardian Council’s representative. The council’s authority is strictly transitional, while the Assembly of Experts retains sole constitutional power to …
Europe’s balancing act on Iran – POLITICO
After a weekend of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran — and the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — Brussels is moving to coordinate its diplomatic response. EU ambassadors convened, foreign ministers met online and Ursula von der Leyen called the Defense College. But as tensions escalate across the region, is Europe shaping events — or reacting to them? Zoya Sheftalovich and Nick Vinocur unpack the EU’s balancing act: condemning Iran’s retaliation, avoiding direct criticism of Washington and trying to remain strategically relevant in a crisis unfolding beyond its borders. Plus: Emmanuel Macron unveils his vision for Europe’s nuclear future from France’s submarine base — and in Brussels, a debate over whether 250,000 EU citizens living in the Belgian capital should get the right to vote in regional elections. You can reach us on our WhatsApp at: +32 491 05 06 29. **A message for Amazon: Today’s episode is presented by Amazon. Sixty percent of sales on Amazon come from independent sellers. Across Europe, over two hundred and eighty thousand Small and Medium Enterprises …