Mojtaba Khamenei, son of former supreme leader, tipped to become Iran’s next head of state

Mojtaba Khamenei, son of former supreme leader, tipped to become Iran’s next head of state Choice of anti-western candidate would give signal that senior figures will not seek accommodation with US Middle East crisis – live updates What we know on day five of the Iran war Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of the assassinated Ali Khamenei , is being heavily tipped to succeed his father as supreme leader of Iran, which would pitch a hardliner into the task of steering the Islamic republic through the most turbulent period in its 48-year history and offer a powerful signal that, for now, it has no intention of changing course. No official confirmation has been given and the announcement may be delayed until after the funeral of Ali Khamenei, which was on Wednesday postponed. His son is believed to have been the choice of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps , and the Israeli defence minister, Gideon Saar, has warned he will be assassinated. Ayatollah Seyed Khatani, a member of the Assembly of Experts, the body that chooses the new supreme leader, said the assembly was close to selecting a leader. Rigid in his anti-western views, Mojtaba Khamenei is not the candidate Donald Trump would have wanted. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said on Tuesday that Iran was run by “religious fanatic lunatics” – and Khamenei’s appointment is hardly likely to dispel that opinion. The choice of supreme leader is made by the 88-strong Assembly of Experts, who in this case are picking from a field of six possible candidates. His election would be a powerful if unsurprising symbol that the government is not looking to find an accommodation with America. Trump has said the worst-case scenario would be if Khamenei’s successor was “as bad as the previous person” . There has been speculation for more than a decade that he would be his father’s successor, which grew when Ebrahim Raisi, the elected president and favourite of Khamenei, was killed in a helicopter crash . Mojtaba Khamenei wa...