Iran's late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had misgivings about his son replacing him, sources have told CBS News.
US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other senior American officials have been briefed on intelligence about Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. Sources said the former supreme leader, who was killed in the initial strikes of the US and Israel's war on Iran on February 28, was wary of his son taking power because of concerns about his intelligence and his qualifications to be leader.
The information gathered also indicated that Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, had problems in his personal life, CBS reported. He was selected to become supreme leader last weekend, having served as a close aide to his father for years.
Mojtaba Khamenei is believed to have been injured in the strikes that killed his father, and has not been seen in public since he was named supreme leader. His inaugural message as the nation's leader was read out on state media on Thursday, but his face was not seen and his voice not heard, raising questions about his health.
Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Mr Trump hinted at Ali Khamenei's lack of faith in his son, saying: "Their leadership is gone. Their second leadership is gone. Now their third leadership is in trouble, and this is not somebody that the father even wanted."
Mr Trump, who has called Mojtaba Khamenei a "lightweight" and "unacceptable", has insisted that he should have a say in the appointment of Iran's leader. Mojtaba Khamenei has never held government office and lacks the senior religious credentials typically expected of the role.
The second-oldest son of the late Ayatollah, he studied Islamic theology after high school and continued his religious studies in Qom in 1999, and became a mid-ranking cleric. He reportedly has close ties to Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps dating back to the Iran-Iraq war, when he served in the Habib Battalion alongside volunteers connected to the Islamic Republic’s emerging revolutionary networks.
