US Senator Says Mojtaba Khamenei Will Meet Same Fate as His Father

A senior United States senator, Lindsey Graham, from the Republican Party has condemned the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s supreme leader. He suggested that Mojtaba will meet the same fate as his father.

Graham, as reported by Al Jazeera on Monday, 9 March 2026, described Iran’s decision to appoint Khamenei’s son as his successor as “not the change we want to see”.

“I believe it is only a matter of time before he meets the same fate as his father,” said Graham, the South Carolina senator, in a statement posted on social media platform X.

Graham has long lobbied for US military action against Iran. Leading American media outlet Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Graham had “coached” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how to lobby US President Donald Trump to take action against Iran.

Iran announced Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new supreme leader on Sunday, 8 March, one week after his father’s death.

The decision by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, comprising 88 senior clerics, to select Mojtaba, a 56-year-old cleric, as Khamenei’s successor indicates that hardline factions continue to maintain full control over Iran.

Trump has not yet provided a direct and public response to Iran’s announcement. However, Fox News journalist Brian Kilmeade disclosed that Trump had told him he was unhappy with Mojtaba’s selection as Khamenei’s replacement.

“I am not happy,” Kilmeade quoted Trump as saying.

In previous comments, Trump described Khamenei’s son as “an ineffectual person”.

When speaking to ABC News on Sunday, 8 March, before Iran announced Mojtaba’s selection, Trump stressed that Iran’s new supreme leader “must get approval from us”.

“If he does not get approval from us, he will not last long,” he asserted, as reported by Al Arabiya.