The Defiant Message Iran’s New Leaders Are Sending the US Mojtaba Khamenei, and the younger hawks around him, think that Iranian restraint only encouraged American aggression. Trump could come to regret his regime change, writes Iranian-American Vali Nasr.

Mar 19, 2026

Before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei was an unlikely choice to succeed his father. The Islamic Revolution had ended the monarchy, and the revolution’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had been explicit in denouncing primogeniture. Even former Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba’s father, had putatively written a letter to the Assembly of Experts, which chooses the supreme leader, asking that it not consider his son. Moreover, January’s mass protests meant that choosing another Khamenei would invite even more demonstrations and deepen the divide separating the people from the state. And yet, the majority of council members chose Mojtaba anyway – sending a defiant message to the US, Israel, and the world.

This was a choice made during war, and at a time when the country is facing an existential moment. Mojtaba’s selection was meant to signal stability and continuity at home and defiance abroad. In his first public statement as supreme leader, Mojtaba endorsed Iran’s war strategy and confirmed the Islamic Republic’s resolve to realize its war goals.