Mojtaba Khamenei’s First Message Threatens Wider War
Iran’s new supreme leader’s first-ever public message signaled continuity and threatened wider war, while ignoring the grievances that had driven widespread protests.
Kyiv Post
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Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, issued his first public message Thursday since assuming power after the death of his father, Ali Khamenei. The statement was delivered as a written text read by a presenter on state television. That unusual format immediately fueled questions about both his health and the degree of his control over the country at a moment of acute regional crisis.
A break with precedent
Unlike his father, Ali Khamenei, who rose to the supreme leadership after serving as Iran’s president, Mojtaba Khamenei has remained almost entirely out of public view. This was not only his first message as supreme leader, but effectively his first known public political address.
The tone of Mojtaba Khamenei’s first message appeared aimed at establishing continuity. Much of it presented the current crisis as an extension of the struggle led by his father, suggesting that although Ali Khamenei is dead, his political and ideological struggle continues.
That is especially striking in a republic that was created to end hereditary rule. The founders of the Islamic Republic rejected dynastic succession as part of the monarchy they overthrew in 1979. Yet Mojtaba Khamenei’s rise now puts power in the hands of the son of the previous supreme leader – the very kind of succession the revolution was intended to end. Even Ali Khamenei was widely understood to oppose the idea of openly creating a dynasty or handing power to his son.
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He learned he was Supreme leader from television
Mojtaba Khamenei’s message added one of the most striking details yet about the succession process: in the text read on state television, he said he learned of his appointment from state TV along with everyone else in Iran.
Under Iran’s constitution, the task of appointing the leader is vested in the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body that is supposed to choose a successor. Two-thirds support is needed for such a decision, and the body is expected to meet in person to carry out the process.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s statement that he learned of his elevation through the broadcast points to a process that appears unusually improvised. It suggests that either formal procedures were overtaken by wartime disorder, or that the real decision was made in a narrower inner circle.
Calls for revenge, Strait of Hormuz threat
In the statement, Mojtaba Khamenei pledged that Iran would not overlook what he called vengeance for the “blood of your martyrs,” referring to Iranians killed in recent strikes. He indicated that retaliation would not be limited to the death of his father, but would extend to other Iranian casualties as well.
He explicitly stated that the “lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must certainly continue to be used” as a tool of pressure. On the day of the message, oil prices spiked back above $100 a barrel, and the International Energy Agency warned this could become the “largest supply disruption” in history.
The message also threatened to open new fronts in the war. Mojtaba Khamenei said “studies have been conducted” on areas where the enemy has little knowledge and is highly vulnerable, language suggesting that Iran is seeking new ways to attack through asymmetric warfare.
Personal losses
In a rare personal passage, Mojtaba Khamenei referred to the loss of close relatives in the strike that killed his father. The statement said he had lost not only his father, but also his wife, a sister, a niece or nephew, and a brother-in-law, showing that the strike hit both the leadership and Khamenei’s immediate family. He also said he saw his father’s body after the strike and that one of his hands was still clenched in a fist.
Warning to Gulf states
Addressing neighboring Gulf countries, Mojtaba Khamenei said Iran had targeted US military bases on their soil rather than the countries themselves. He urged Gulf states to close those bases “as soon as possible,” while warning that their continued presence could expose them to retaliation.
However, the war’s impact across the Gulf has reached far beyond military sites, with strikes and damage affecting airports, ports, oil facilities, and residential areas, bringing deaths, injuries, and major disruption to civilian life.
Domestic unity and dissent
The message praised the Iranian public for preserving cohesion during the transition and stressed the importance of national unity in wartime. It portrayed mass gatherings and public mourning as evidence that the system remained intact despite the shock of Ali Khamenei’s death and the violence that followed.
For all its emphasis on continuity and revenge, Mojtaba Khamenei’s message was notable for what it did not say. He repeated the Islamic Republic’s familiar language of confrontation with Israel and the United States, but offered no real appeal to the many Iranians who had been protesting his father’s rule only weeks earlier.
He said nothing about economic reform, opening Iran’s economy to the world, or offering a better future to a population battered by inflation, hardship, and political repression. The latest wave of unrest had been fueled in large part by the country’s deep economic crisis.
Instead, the statement appeared directed mainly at the regime’s core supporters: those mourning Ali Khamenei and other commanders killed in the recent attacks.
An even harsher crackdown?
Surayya Nahidi, an Iranian living in the United States whose name has been changed at her request, told Kyiv Post that she believes Mojtaba Khamenei will be even more repressive than his father. She said the regime is currently focused on the war and its immediate survival, but is likely to intensify its crackdown on protesters and critics once the external crisis begins to recede.
Nahidi said the lack of a video appearance has only deepened public suspicion. Along with other commentators, she did not rule out the possibility that Mojtaba Khamenei may have been wounded – or may not be in a position to lead – following the strike that killed his father. In her view, the message read on state television under his name may have been intended to calm questions inside the country and preserve order. “Everybody in Iran is asking: where is he?” she told Kyiv Post. “This address may well have been written by the IRGC or other leaders. I will believe it when I see him speak.”
Mojtaba Khamenei’s message came only weeks after one of the bloodiest protest crackdowns in Iran’s modern history. The exact death toll remains disputed because the leadership imposed a near-total internet blackout and information was tightly controlled. According to official reports, more than 3,000 people were killed in the crackdown, while rights groups have reported numbers ranging from several thousand to well over 20,000.
Mood differs as millions flee
If Mojtaba Khamenei’s message was meant to project continuity and control, the mood on the ground looked very different. As the war entered its 13th day, the UN refugee agency said up to 3.2 million people had been displaced inside Iran, while neighboring borders were under pressure as civilians tried to escape the fighting. Iranian sources said more than 1,300 people had been killed in the strikes to date.
Some of that displacement pushed people toward neighboring countries, including Türkiye, where border crossings became one of the few remaining ways out.
At the Kapıköy border crossing into Türkiye, Jalileh Jabari, 63, who had fled Tehran, said she hoped to return home once the war ended. “If things become good there, if Iran becomes good, I will go back. If there is peace, I will return,” she said. Another traveler, Ebrahim Eidi, 61, said many Iranians still hoped for change but were too frightened to act. “People are afraid to go to the streets,” he said.
