Such is Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader of Iran: religious, passionate about luxury and cruel to dissent

Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ali Khamenei, has taken command of Iran after years of discreet influence around his father and close relations with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. He has come to power at a critical moment as the United States and Israel are bombing the country. The aim of these attacks is to impose a change of government, and the new Iranian supreme leader has come to prevent it.

The new Iranian high command is 56 years old and is the second son of Ali Khamenei , elected precisely after the bombing of his family on 28 April, in which Ali Khamenei himself, his wife — the mother of Mojtaba — and one of Mojtaba's sisters were killed.

The new supreme leader of Iran has never stood for election. Within the clerical establishment it is hojatoleslam —a middle-class religious— and not ayatollah.

In recent years, the name of Mojtaba Khamenei has often been mentioned as a possible successor to Ali Khamenei, whose father Khamenei served for eight years as President of Iran under the orders of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruholá Khomeini, before taking office in the country for 36 years.

Mojtaba Khamenei himself has never spoken publicly about the possibility of replacing his father. His appointment mayalso arouse suspicion that it might take the form of a dynasty, which would recall the Pahlavi dynasty overthrown by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

According to analysts, the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei closesthe door to any political opening, and it will be difficult to find a negotiated solution with the United States, at least in the short term.

He's been in contact withthe Revolutionary Guard since he was a young man. He served in the Habib battalion of that military branch and participated in the war against Iraq in the 1980s.

According to Western media, Mojtaba Khamenei has billions of dollars and luxury goods in several countries. Foreign and Iranian reformist opposition have on several occasions denounced his involvement in the violent repression of dissent , the manipulation of elections and the use of paramilitary force Basij against peaceful demonstrators during the 2009 protests.