Iran doubles down on hardline rule

SHADOWY BAYT INSIDER WITH CLOSE REVOLUTIONARY GUARD TIES TAKES HELM AT HEIGHT OF WAR

- BY STEPHEN N. R. Senior Associate Editor

Iran's decision to elevate Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader signals that the Islamic Republic intends to maintain its hardline course even as US and Israeli air strikes pound the country and regional tensions escalate.

For years, Mojtaba Khamenei has been one of the most enigmatic figures in Iran's ruling establishment — a powerful but largely unseen operator who worked behind the scenes in his father's office. Now, as he steps into the country's most powerful position, the once shadowy cleric finds himself thrust into the global spotlight and into the crosshairs of Iran's adversaries.

The 56-year-old son of the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has never held formal government office and has rarely spoken publicly. Yet analysts say he quietly accumulated influence inside the Islamic Republic's most powerful institutions, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

"He has been a secretive figure operating behind the scenes," Mehmet Ozalp, head of the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation at Australia's Charles Sturt University, told ABC.

"He mainly used his father's influence and acted as a gatekeeper to him, which made him a very powerful person, particularly with the revolutionary guards."

For years Mojtaba's influence inside the office of the supreme leader — known as the "Bayt" — earned him a reputation as the man coordinating military, intelligence and political decisions in the background.