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The uncertainty surrounding Mojtaba Khamenei has mattered because his succession itself represented one of the most consequential political moments in the Islamic Republic since 1989. Reuters reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed when the United States and Israel launched what it described as their most ambitious attack on Iranian targets in decades. Iranian state media confirmed his death, and Reuters later reported that Mojtaba, long seen as one of the leading contenders to succeed him, survived the strikes and was selected by a hardline clerical council. His elevation placed a man with deep ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps at the apex of the Iranian system at precisely the moment that system was under severe military, political and economic strain.
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