Tipsheet

Ayatollah Khamenei Opposed His Son As His Successor As Reports Swirl He May Be in a Coma

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  March 11, 2026 3:45 PM

Mojtaba Khamenei, the newly elected Ayatollah of Iran, was reportedly not held in high regard by his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of Operation Epic Fury and had written in his will that he did not want his son to succeed him. 

Now, questions are swirling over whether Mojtaba himself was severely injured in an Israeli airstrike and may even be in a coma.

“In Khamenei’s will, he explicitly asked Mojtaba not to be named as successor,” Khosro Isfahani, a research director for National Union for Democracy, an opposition group with ties to Iranian intelligence, said.

“Mojtaba is an impotent young cleric who has achieved nothing in terms of political life,” Isfahani added, before explaining that Khamenei thought his son lacked experience or the capability to lead Iran. “All these years, he has been nothing without his father’s name.”

However, Mojtaba was chosen as Iran’s new ayatollah largely because of his strong ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Yet, according to Isfahani, Mojtaba was not even properly elected to the position.

“The Assembly of Experts that was supposed to pick the replacement of Khamenei didn’t vote for Mojtaba,” Isfahani said. “There was a lot of pushback against him, but under pressure from the IRGC, he was named as the successor.”

This comes as reports swirl about Mojtaba’s health, with some claiming he may have lost a leg and fallen into a coma following the initial Israeli airstrike that reportedly killed his father. 

Exiled Iranian reporter Ehsan Karami has alleged that Mojtaba Khamenei was seriously injured in the strike and admitted to Sinai Hospital in Tehran, where he was placed on a ventilator. Karami further claimed that Mojtaba remains in a coma and may be unaware of the ongoing war or the deaths of family members during the bombardment. 

These claims have not been independently verified. Iran’s state television has not confirmed any hospitalization, though it recently referred to Mojtaba Khamenei as a “Jaanbaz of Ramadan,” a term commonly used in Iran to describe a wounded war veteran, fueling further speculation that he may have been injured. The IRGC also did not pledge their allegiance to Mojtaba himself, but to a cardboard cutout.

This comes as President Trump has voiced his displeasure with Iran’s decision to elevate Mojtaba as the country’s new Ayatollah.