Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in US-Israeli strikes, has been named Iran’s new supreme leader.
The 56-year-old has never held elected office, but had long been influential within the inner circle of the supreme leader, with close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Seen for years as a possible successor to his father, his appointment suggests hard-line factions in Iran remain in control and may be reluctant to pursue negotiations as the war enters its second week.
US President Donald Trump previously said Mojtaba would be an “unacceptable” choice, and Israel had vowed to target any successor.
Home to one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations, Iran once birthed the mighty Achaemenid and Sassanian empires, shaping political, cultural, and scientific thought across continents. The 7th-century arrival of Islam marked a profound transformation, but it was the eventual embrace of Shiism as the state religion in the 16th century that forged a distinct Iranian identity within the Muslim world.
Over the centuries, Iran has repeatedly grappled with the challenge of preserving its traditions such as language, poetry, philosophy, and religious orthodoxy, while confronting waves of modernization, colonial pressures, and internal reform. This enduring struggle to reconcile a proud ancient heritage with the demands of a rapidly changing world remains at the heart of Iran’s national identity.
Click through the following gallery to explore how these forces have shaped modern Iran, a nation long perched between East and West.