Iran selects Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son as new supreme leader

This article appeared as part of the Daily Sensemaker newsletter – one story a day to make sense of the world. To receive it in your inbox, featuring content exclusive to the newsletter, sign up for free here.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, will be Iran’s next supreme leader. His selection may be controversial in a regime which toppled a hereditary monarch in 1979, but it also sends a message to the US and Israel that the Islamic Republic will not bow to their demands. A trained cleric, Mojtaba Khamenei has maintained a low profile but is believed to wield a significant amount of influence in the regime. A former study partner of Mojtaba recently told the Atlantic that he was “more dangerous than 50 nuclear bombs”. Donald Trump has previously called him an “unacceptable” choice, but the president’s attempts to govern the selection process suggest he thinks the Venezuela playbook will work in Iran. It won’t. The Iranian state is entrenched like no other, and Mojtaba’s willingness to wreak destruction cannot be underestimated.