Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that they have downed “26 enemy drones” since the start of the war and brought an armed drone under their control intact, the semi-official Mehr News Agency reported.
French fighter jets have already neutralized Iranian drones targeting the United Arab Emirates, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Wednesday.
Barrot also said that France plans several repatriation flights for French nationals in the Middle East.
“One will depart from the United Arab Emirates, another from Egypt... and one from Israel,” he told France 2 television.
Any leader appointed by Iran’s ruling system to continue plans to destroy Israel, threaten the world, and suppress the Iranian people would be a clear target, Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.
“We will continue to act with full force, together with our American partners, to crush the regime’s capabilities and create the conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow it and replace it,” Katz said in a post on X.
Israel would keep acting with full force together with its US partners to degrade the Iranian leadership’s capabilities and create conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow and replace it, the Israeli defense minister added.
Iran’s clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, has elected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ali Khamenei, as the Islamic Republic’s new Supreme Leader, according to his informed sources who spoke to Iran International on condition of anonymity.
The decision marks one of the most consequential moments in the history of the Islamic Republic, effectively transferring power within the same family for the first time since the 1979 revolution.
But who exactly is Mojtaba Khamenei?
Iran’s clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, has elected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ali Khamenei, as the Islamic Republic’s new Supreme Leader, according to his informed sources who spoke to Iran International on condition of anonymity.
The decision marks one of the most consequential moments in the history of the Islamic Republic, effectively transferring power within the same family for the first time since the 1979 revolution.
But who exactly is Mojtaba Khamenei?
A powerful figure behind the scenes
Mojtaba Khamenei, 55, has long been considered one of the most influential figures inside Iran’s ruling system despite rarely appearing in public or holding formal political office.
For years he operated from within the Office of the Supreme Leader, serving as a gatekeeper and power broker around his father. His position has often been compared to the role played by Ahmad Khomeini, the son of Islamic Republic’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini, who served as a key aide and confidant during the early years of the revolutionary state.
Analysts say Mojtaba gradually built influence across the regime’s political, security and clerical institutions.
Dr. Eric Mandel, director of the Middle East Political and Information Network (MEPIN), told Iran International that Mojtaba has long been a central but opaque figure in Tehran’s power structure.
“Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has long operated behind the scenes in Tehran, building deep ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and consolidating influence within the regime’s power structure. He is widely viewed as one of the architects of the regime’s repression," Mandel said.
Author and Iran analyst Arash Azizi told Iran International Mojtaba is viewed with deep suspicion. "This is why he has been a bete noire of democratic movements at least since 2009 when he was rumored to have helped orchestrate the repression. He is also known to be a favorite of some sections of the establishment such as those close to Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf who has ambitions of becoming Iran’s strongman."
Ties to Iran’s security establishment
A key source of Mojtaba’s influence lies in his close connections to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, Mojtaba served in the Habib Battalion, a unit made up largely of volunteers connected to the Islamic Republic’s emerging revolutionary networks. The battalion operated under forces linked to the IRGC and took part in several major battles of the war.
Service in the Habib Battalion proved significant for Mojtaba. Many of the men who fought alongside him later rose to senior positions in Iran’s security and intelligence apparatus, including figures who would go on to lead parts of the IRGC’s intelligence organization and security commands responsible for protecting the regime.
Those wartime relationships are widely believed to have helped Mojtaba build lasting connections inside Iran’s powerful security establishment.
Over the years, opposition figures and political rivals have accused Mojtaba of playing a role in shaping election outcomes and coordinating crackdowns on dissent.
Questions over religious credentials
Iran’s constitution requires the Supreme Leader to possess deep knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and be recognized as a senior religious authority.
Mojtaba, however, is not widely considered to be among the highest-ranking clerics in Iran. He studied in the seminaries of Qom under several prominent conservative scholars but does not hold the rank of ayatollah.
Despite that, Iran’s political system has historically shown flexibility when elite consensus forms around a candidate.
A controversial succession
Mojtaba’s elevation is likely to intensify criticism that the Islamic Republic founded as a revolutionary Islamic system is evolving toward dynastic rule.
For years speculation about his succession drew comparisons to hereditary monarchies.
For a man who has spent decades operating largely in the shadows of Iran’s power structure, Mojtaba Khamenei now finds himself at the center of one of the most consequential periods in the country’s modern history.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s Supreme Leader, sought treatment for impotence during multiple visits to private hospitals in the United Kingdom, Daily Mail reported citing a US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.
"It required four visits, including a final stay lasting two months, and he eventually had a son who was named 'Ali' after the baby's grandfather," read the report.
The 2008 cable said Mojtaba Khamenei married in 2004 and made several extended trips to London for medical treatment, naming the Wellington and Cromwell hospitals.
"Mojtaba was expected by his family to produce children quickly, but needed a fourth visit to the UK for medical treatment," according to the intelligence document.
The cable also described Mojtaba Khamenei as influential inside the Supreme Leader’s office and closely connected to senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while saying that he was not expected to achieve the senior clerical rank typically associated with the role.