Assass!nation fears: Khamenei chooses three successors, excludes son
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly named three senior clerics as potential successors in the event of his death amid the ongoing war with Israel.
According to a report by The New York Times on Saturday, the 86-year-old leader made the decision while operating from a secure underground bunker.
Citing unnamed senior Iranian officials, the report states that Khamenei made the selections in the wake of a series of Israeli airstrikes and targeted assassinations that have decimated key members of Iran’s military command.
Surprisingly, the list reportedly does not include Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, long speculated to be his chosen successor.
The omission appears to reject years of assumptions that Iran was preparing for a dynastic succession.
“Khamenei has nominated three clerics as potential successors while hiding in a bunker… Mojtaba is not among them,” The New York Times quoted Iranian sources.
The Jerusalem Post also confirmed the development, adding that Khamenei has begun selecting replacements down his military chain of command.
Under Iran’s constitution, the Supreme Leader is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body.
However, Khamenei’s direct involvement in selecting successors suggests he may be attempting to guide the process outside normal channels, possibly to maintain ideological control or prevent internal fragmentation.
Analysts say the naming of three candidates rather than one signals both internal uncertainty and the urgency of the situation.
“Khamenei’s action signals a regime that sees the risk of decapitation as real,” one regional intelligence official told The New York Times. “It is succession planning not in theory — but under fire.”
The urgency behind the succession planning is linked to recent Israeli strikes that reportedly killed top Iranian military officials, including IRGC commanders Hossein Salami and Gholam Ali Rashid.
Several senior nuclear scientists were also reported killed in a strike on June 13.
“General Hossein Salami has been killed in an Israeli strike,” Reuters reported on June 17.
Iranian media also confirmed the arrest of at least 22 suspected Israeli operatives after coordinated attacks on IRGC targets.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s exclusion is being seen as a major break from earlier succession assumptions.
For years, he had been considered a likely heir due to his religious credentials and growing political influence.
Mojtaba’s exclusion is a message: no dynasty here,” Times of India said.
