Iran signals a fight to the end with appointment of Khamenei's son

The elevation of Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s new supreme leader defies President Trump and signals that Tehran won't back down as it fights a war with the U.S. and Israel.

- Benoit Faucon & Sune Engel Rasmussen

Moitaba Khamenei is expected to take a confrontational stance toward the West.

(AP)

The appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s new supreme leader defies President Trump and signals that Tehran won't back down as it fights a war with the U.S. and Israel.

The elevation of Mojtaba Khamenei, a conservative long close to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, shows that Trump's efforts so far to cow the regime into surrender have failed.

It also appears to have put hardliners in firm control of the country, with moderate and reformist factions long marginalized. The 56-year old Khamenei is expected to take a confrontational stance toward the West.

His appointment also shows that Iran won't acquiesce to Trump’s demand that he approve the country’s new top cleric. Trump told Axios last week that “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me.”

The younger Khamenei’s ascendance “suggests the continuation of the same old strategy: repression at home and resistance internationally,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

The Revolutionary Guard and Iranian army pledged allegiance to the new leader. Following his appointment, Iran launched a wave of missiles toward Israel, state media said.

In addition to his father being killed at the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli campaign, the new leader has also lost his mother, wife and a son in the strikes.

Israel said on Sunday that it would target whoever was appointed as the new supreme leader. Despite the risk, the appointment of a new top cleric is important in signaling to Iranians and the world that the regime can still function.