Ali Larijani has been pulling the strings in Iran since Ali Khamenei’s death.Image: keystone
Moschtaba Khamenei, son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is said to have succeeded him as Supreme Leader of Iran. But it is Ali Larijani who controls the regime’s security strategy in the background.
March 4, 2026, 11:15 amMarch 4, 2026, 11:15 am
According to media reports, the son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Moschtaba Khamenei, has been chosen as the new Supreme Leader of Iran. It is no surprise that Khamenei’s 56-year-old son will succeed him. He had long been considered an important figure in the background of the mullahs’ regime and was considered a potential successor to Ali Khamenei.
According to media reports, Moschtaba Khamenei (56) will succeed his father as the son of Ali Khamenei.Image: tasnim news
Moschtaba Khamenei has hardly been in public until now. He is the second eldest son of Ali Khamenei and is said to have close ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Like his father, the 56-year-old is neither a high-ranking clergyman nor has he ever held an official position in the regime.
These used to be official criteria for the post of Supreme Leader – but now the highest spiritual rank of Grand Ayatollah is no longer a prerequisite. In 1989 the constitution was changed to allow Ali Khamenei to succeed him.
The Islamic guardianship system in Iran nevertheless imposes clear requirements: the supreme leader must be a high-ranking figure with significant political authority. Modschtaba fulfills this requirement, among other things, because he served in the armed forces during the Iran-Iraq War and is said to have secured considerable influence behind the scenes since then.
Moschtaba Khamenei may now be the Supreme Leader of Iran – but since Ali Khamenei’s death, someone else has actually been pulling the strings: Ali Larijani.
The mastermind: Ali Larijani
Six days before the US and Israeli attack in Iran, a contingency plan was leaked from Tehran in case Israel and the US attacked. Khamenei had chosen a successor in the strictest secrecy. His choice fell on his national security advisor Ali Larijani.
Larijani was born in Najaf in 1958 into a religious family. He is the son of Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli. In addition to a religious seminary in Qom, he earned a doctorate in Western philosophy with a focus on Immanuel Kant. He also earned degrees in computer science and mathematics. His family is considered one of the most influential in the Islamic Republic: one brother headed the Supreme Court and the Judicial Council for a long time, and another worked as a foreign policy negotiator during the nuclear negotiations.
Larijani is one of the defining figures of the Iranian system. Over the past four decades, he has held numerous key positions, including with the Revolutionary Guard, where he rose to the leadership corps. He later served as Minister of Culture, Head of State Broadcasting and finally President of Parliament.
As parliamentary speaker, Larijani mediated between rival political camps.Image: keystone
In the 1980s he served as a soldier in the Iran-Iraq War. His involvement with the Revolutionary Guards at the time earned him the honorary title of “Sardar,” which means commander or general, in security circles and continues to give him support among the military elite to this day.
In 2005, Larijani ran as a conservative candidate in the presidential elections, but had no chance with around six percent of the vote. In the same year he became chief negotiator in the nuclear talks with the EU. In 2007, he denied that Iran had ever sought to build nuclear weapons. He repeatedly caused irritation internationally, for example at the Munich Security Conference in 2009 controversial statements about the Holocaust.
At the same time, Larijani is considered an experienced crisis diplomat within the system. As parliamentary speaker, he mediated between rival political camps on several occasions and helped prevent internal escalations. To this day, he remains one of the most enduring and influential figures in the Islamic Republic.
Mastermind behind massacres
Ali Larijani is considered a key figure in the suppression of the protests in 2025 and 2026. Observers see him as the mastermind behind the bloody repression in which thousands, possibly tens of thousands of people are said to have been killed. It was he who gave the order to shoot.
After the massacres in January 2026, Donald Trump’s US government placed Larijani on the sanctions list. He was accused of having ordered or at least approved of the violent operations. Contemporary witnesses also report that he always sided with the hardliners in phases of existential threat.
Larijani has taken over in the background
Ali Larijani was most recently involved in negotiations with the USA and already had more operational power than President Massoud Peseschkian during Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s lifetime. As Director of the National Security Council since 2025, he coordinated the country’s defense, nuclear and regional strategy, including cooperation with the Pasdaran, the Revolutionary Guards. This elite unit of the armed forces reports directly to the head of state.
Larijani (r.) took part in the indirect negotiations with the USA.Image: keystone
After the recent attacks, Larijani took on a central role as crisis manager. In the political system he is seen as a reliable organizer who can hold different centers of power together in exceptional situations. His religious, technical and military background facilitates cooperation with clerical institutions, state authorities and security apparatuses.
Larijani appears increasingly combative to the outside world. On social media, especially on X, he responds to attacks with sharp words and openly attacks Donald Trump.
Ali Larijani shoots at X against Trump.image: x
Iran’s future uncertain
Traditionally, the Supreme Leader in Iran holds ultimate power in the country: he controls the military, secret services, judiciary and the most important political decisions largely independently of the president or parliament. Moschtaba Khamenei is now taking on this role, although he has not yet been officially confirmed as his successor.
Since Larijani does not hold any religious rank, formal succession to the office of Supreme Leader was not possible for him anyway. Instead, he takes on central operational responsibility in the transition phase: he coordinates security and war policy, holds the different centers of power together and, in effect, acts like an unofficial head of state.
In this acute phase of war and transition, the Supreme Leader’s center of power could be restructured. However, the situation in Iran remains confusing in view of the war.