Iran's new supreme leader is Mojtaba Khamenei, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's second son, according to official media. 

Following a vote by the assembly of experts, a group of clerics in charge of selecting Iran's highest authority, the 56-year-old younger Khamenei was named as his father's successor on Sunday. 

Last Saturday, US and Israeli strikes on Iran murdered his father. Khamenei, who was close to his late father, has been mentioned more and more as a possible successor in recent years, although he has never addressed the matter in public. 

Ayatollah Hosseinali Eshkevari, a member of the assembly of experts, announced that a candidate had been selected prior to Khamenei's announcement of his successor.

“The name of Khamenei will continue,” Eshkevari ?said in a video published in Iranian media.

“The vote has been cast and will be announced soon.”

Above the president, Iran's supreme leader has the last word on all affairs of state in the Islamic Republic. A dynasty akin to the Pahlavi monarchy before to the Islamic revolution of 1979 might result from Khamenei's rise to power. 

The Iranian crown prince in exile, Reza Pahlavi, announced on Friday that he had accepted the "call" to become the nation's future leader. 

The most well-known member of the resistance to the Iranian government, Pahlavi is the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the final Shah of Iran.

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