U.S. intelligence shows Iran’s late supreme leader was wary of his son taking power, sources say
U.S. intelligence informed President Trump and a small circle around him that Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had doubts about his son replacing him, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
The analysis showed that the elder Khamenei was wary of his son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was taking power because he was seen as lackluster and incompetent to be a leader, sources said.
The information also indicates that the father was aware that his son was having problems in his personal life, according to sources within the administration, the intelligence services and those close to the president.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56 years old, was selected to become Iran’s supreme leader last weekend by the country’s council of clerics after having been a close associate of his father for years.
About eight days earlier, Ali Khamenei had been killed in a Israeli missile strike in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured during this strike, remained in his father’s inner circle.
Mr. Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other senior officials were briefed on the intelligence regarding the younger Khamenei.
In private conversations, Mr. Trump told those close to him that he did not know that the information given to him about Mojtaba Khamenei was important. He thinks Iran is essentially leaderless right now, and that young Khamenei may be dead.
The White House believes that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is calling the shots, representing a significant change from the theocratic dictatorship that has existed since the country’s 1979 revolution.
Spokespeople for the CIA, White House and vice president declined to comment.
On Friday, Mr. Trump publicly alluded to Ali Khamenei’s lack of trust in his son.
“Their leadership is gone. Their second leadership is gone. Now their third leadership is in trouble, and it’s not even someone the father wanted,” Mr. Trump told Fox News in an interview.
Mr. Trump has called the new supreme leader a “lightweight” who would be an “unacceptable” leader for Iran. He also suggested he wanted to exercise some oversight over Iran’s next leader.
The federal government on Friday offered up to $10 million for information on the location of Mojtaba Khamenei and nine other key Iranian officials.
Mojtaba Khamenei is Iran’s third supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, after his father and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The succession from father to son is remarkable because the revolution overthrew a hereditary monarchy.
The United States, for more than two weeks of war against Iran, has sought to destroy the Iranian regime. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Friday that the younger Khamenei was “injured and probably disfigured,” and Vance said it was apparently a strike that left him injured. His condition was unclear.
