BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 9. Iran's new Supreme
Leader Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei received his initial education at
a religious madrasa. In 1999, he continued his religious studies in
the city of Qom and attained the rank of a cleric.
In 1999, he married Zahra, the daughter of conservative
politician and member of the Expediency Council Gholam-Ali
Haddad-Adel. The couple has two sons and a daughter. His wife was
killed as a result of a U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran on February
28.
During the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), Mojtaba Khamenei fought as
part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is
reported to have considerable influence within the IRGC. The
connections he established during the war later contributed to the
growth of his influence. It was later also reported that his
influence significantly increased within Iran’s Basij forces.
In 2005 and 2009, he was one of the main supporters of former
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supported his election to
the presidency.
The 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei rarely appears in public. He
has never officially held a political position. However, in the
current structure of power in Iran, he is considered one of the
influential figures.
For many years, he worked in the office of the Supreme Leader of
Iran. His position has often been compared to that of Ahmad
Khomeini - the son of the founder of the Islamic Revolution,
Ruhollah Khomeini. This is because Ahmad Khomeini was one of the
trusted figures of Ruhollah Khomeini in the first years after the
Islamic Revolution.
