Meet the New Ayatollah: Mojtaba Khamenei’s Harsh Crackdown on Iranian Protesters

Before stepping into his father’s shoes as Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei was already a pivotal figure in quelling widespread protests across the nation.

Ascending to power at 56 after the assassination of his father, Ali Khamenei, in February, Mojtaba has carved out a significant influence within the regime throughout his life.

He has leveraged this influence to enforce his father’s agenda by suppressing dissent, forging strong ties with Iran’s military and paramilitary factions, and even assuming key roles in intelligence decisions.

During the mass protests of 2009, Mojtaba reportedly took command of the Basij, a formidable paramilitary organization with an estimated membership of 600,000.

He is alleged to have directed the brutal repression that resulted in the deaths of many who were protesting the presidential election results that year.

Critics accused then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, seeking reelection, of committing widespread election fraud that led him to taking home 62% of the votes. 

On his inauguration day, opposition protesters clashed with hundreds of riot police outside of Iran’s parliament building. 

And Basij members took to the streets to suppress opposition, with Mojtaba orchestrating them. 

An Iranian politician told the Guardian that year: ‘Mojtaba is the commander of this coup d’etat. The basiji are operating on Mojtaba’s orders, but his name is always hidden in all of this. The government never mentions him. 

Supporters of Iran’s defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi fight running battles with riot police during a demonstration on June 20, 2009 in Tehran, Iran

An Iranian female opposition supporter reacts as she attends a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Sept. 18, 2009

Long before he took his father’s mantle as the Supreme Leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei (pictured) was involved in the merciless crackdown of the Iranian people in several major mass protests

‘Everyone is angry about this. The maraji [Iran’s most senior ayatollahs] and the clerics are angry, the conservatives are very angry and strongly critical of Mojtaba. This situation cannot continue with so many people on the top against it.’

Basij forces were also used to crack down on dissidents in 2022 during the Mahsa Amini protests, which began after a young woman was kidnapped and beaten to death by Iran’s morality police for refusing to wear a hijab on public transport. 

These protests, which began in September 2022 and carried on until the following spring, saw security forces kill over 500 people, including 68 minors.  

The Basij, and other security forces, were accused of threatening the family members of protesters, torturing demonstrators and afflicting sexual violence on them as well. 

A CNN investigation that year alleged security forces tried to blind protesters in a ‘systematic’ way by shooting ‘pellets, teargas canisters, and paintball bullets’ at their eyes. 

Mojtaba is also believed to have taken a significant role in the IRGC itself. Iran international reported that before he took office, he played a significant role in deciding which senior officials should hold places in the military’s intelligence wing. 

He was, in 2019, sanctioned by the US for acting as the Supreme Leader of Iran without every being elected. 

He was also placed under sanctions for working closely with the commander of the Quds Force, an Iranian military branch that specialises in military intelligence and unconventional warfare.

The Quds Force is responsible for covert operations including lethal aid, intelligence, financing, and training. 

It lends support to, among other groups, the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, the PIJ and the PFLP. 

In a 2025 interview with a former Iranian official, Mojtaba reportedly describes himself as an extremist who believes himself to be a mythical figure in Islam. 

He also reportedly described himself as extremely brutal, and believed that the ends justify any means, and says he is racist towards Arabs, who make up a minority population in Iran. 

Mojtaba has carried on his father’s campaign of terror across the Middle East, with Iran vowing today that not one litre of oil would be exported from the Gulf while its war with the United States and Israel continues, in a stark rebuke to President Donald Trump’s boast that the conflict was all but over.

Trump’s argument that the war would be ‘ended soon’ helped reverse the previous day’s spike in oil prices, which have surged since Iranian attacks on shipping closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli strikes that killed its supreme leader.

A thick plume of dark black smoke lingered in Tehran on Sunday after heavy Israel airstrikes on an oil depot on March 8 2026 

The price increase also followed strikes on an oil depot in Iran, and after attacks on oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

After Trump’s optimistic comments, European gas prices opened 15 percent lower, and Asian stock markets recovered from Monday’s slump, but concerns remain high.

Egypt increased the cost of fuels by up to 30 percent and Pakistan said it would provide naval escorts to commercial shipping.

And the Islamic republic’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) mocked Trump’s apparent bid to lessen the economic impact of the war, warning: ‘The Iranian armed forces… will not allow the export of a single litre of oil from the region to the hostile side and its partners until further notice.’

‘It is we who will determine the end of the war,’ the IRGC, seen as close to Iran’s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said, in a statement carried by Iranian media. ‘The equations and future status of the region are now in the hands of our armed forces. American forces will not end the war.’

And in a message directly to Washington, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told PBS News: ‘We are well prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes.’

Tehran’s top diplomat, who has remained in his post since Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei replaced his slain father as supreme leader, complained that the US had attacked Iran before while diplomatic talks were ongoing.

‘I don’t think talking with Americans anymore would be on our agenda,’ he said.