EXCLUSIVE
Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba named Iran's new Supreme Leader
30 minutes ago
Iran's Assembly of Experts elected Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba as the next Supreme Leader under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards, informed sources told Iran International.
(He is said to be less radical. And is 58. Info posted earlier)
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603030390
The Spectator Index
@spectatorindex
Mojtaba KHAMENEI
Senior Israeli officials have assessed that Iran will announce Khamenei's son Mojtaba as his successor, according to Israel's Ynet news.
Meanwhile, Iran International reports that he has already been elected leader 'under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards'.
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3:44 PM · Mar 3, 2026
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95.4K
Views
https://x.com/spectatorindex/status/2028934530363736156
CNN: Khamenei’s second son Mojtaba among possible successors
02 March 2026 08:43
There is no clear successor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to CNN.
Following the ayatollah’s death, interim leadership is expected to select a new leader. The candidate must be a man, a cleric with political competence, moral authority, and loyalty to the Islamic Republic.
CNN identifies 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader’s second son, as a leading contender. He is known for his close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia.
However, the report notes that Mojtaba Khamenei’s lack of senior clerical rank and formal position could hinder his appointment. Additionally, the transfer of power from father to son is generally disfavored in Iran.
On February 28, Iran’s state media formally announced the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following reports of coordinated US and Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran. Authorities declared a 40-day period of national mourning, bringing to a close Khamenei’s nearly 37 years as the country’s highest political and religious figure.
In accordance with the constitution, an interim leadership council is to take over the responsibilities of the Supreme Leader after his passing. This temporary body consists of the sitting president, the head of the judiciary, and a cleric appointed by the Guardian Council, and it will govern until a permanent successor is selected by the Assembly of Experts.
Iranian law stipulates that the new Supreme Leader must be appointed by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical institution elected by popular vote and entrusted exclusively with the authority to choose and supervise the country’s top leader.
By Jeyhun Aghazada
https://caliber.az/en/post/cnn-khamenei-s-second-son-mojtaba-among-possible-successors
U.S. Central Command
@CENTCOM
U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are delivering unrelenting, overwhelming firepower from regional waters. DAY and NIGHT.
11:51 AM · Mar 3, 2026
455.9K
Views
https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2028875984519205384?s=20
Iran International English
@IranIntl_En
Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council on Mirdamad Street in Tehran was destroyed after being targeted in an airstrike on Monday, footage released by Iranian media showed.
The council is a powerful state body that selects the clerical member of the Interim Leadership Council and makes the final decisions on five key issues until a new Supreme Leader is elected:
1- Determining the general policies of the Islamic Republic
2- Ordering a referendum
3- Declaring war or peace
4- Dismissing the president
5- Appointing or dismissing the chief of the Joint Staff, the commander-in-chief of the IRGC, and senior military and law enforcement commanders
https://x.com/IranIntl_En/status/2028922179090284793?s=20
US consulate parking lot in Dubai targeted, local staff say
1 hour ago
The parking lot ofthe US consulate in Dubai was targetedin an attack on Tuesday, local staff told Iran International.
Dubai's media office later said authorities have put down the limited fire which was caused by a drone strike and no injuries were reported.
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603031789
DID YOU KNOW: Iran’s Ayatollahs Are The Spiritual Heads of Mamdani’s Sect of Islam?
PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani identifies as a follower of Twelver Shia Islam, the same sect as Iran’s ruling ayatollahs.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Iranian regime, and Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse.
💬KEY QUOTE: Twelver Muslims “believe that to this day there is a 1,200-year-old living prophet on Earth who is in hiding and is going to come out at some point soon, and proselytize Islam the world over,” Kassam noted last year.
🎯IMPACT: The media has been criticized for ignoring Mamdani’s religious beliefs and their implications.
IN FULL
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is a follower of the Twelver sect of Shia Islam. This sect counts Iran’s now-deceased Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and the country’s surviving ayatollahs as spiritual leaders, owed religious taxes like khums and zakat by ordinary Twelvers.
Iqbal Akhtar, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Florida International University, has noted:“The Mamdani family… is part of the Twelver community… whose Twelfth Imam is believed to be hidden from the world and only emerges in times of crisis. Twelvers believe he will help usher in an age of peace during end times.”
Though this Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is said to have disappeared into hiding in 874 AD,the Ayatollahs of Iran have taken up the mantle of leadership for the Twelver community.
Robert Spencer, head of the JihadWatch group, has described the sect as the official religion of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Mamdani has described the strikes against Iran as “a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.
“Per the Iran International website,“New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s aunt was a supporter of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic,” though his father appears to have been less keen.
Tehran University Professor Foad Izadi told an audience in November 2025: “I met Mr. Mamdani’s father twenty years ago at a conference in New York. I was already familiar with his books and his belief in Twelver Shiism.
When he realized we were Iranian and religious, he said, ‘I have a sister who always criticizes me for two things: first, that I don’t say my prayers properly; second, that I don’t show the devotion to Khomeini that I’m supposed to.'”
The reason he is “supposed to” is that Khomeini effectively declared himself the spiritual leader of the group upon the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
https://thenationalpulse.com/2026/03/03/did-you-know-irans-ayatollahs-are-the-spiritual-heads-of-mamdanis-sect-of-islam/
Trump says US to provide insurance for Persian Gulf maritime trade
1 hour ago
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation to provide political risk insurance and guarantees for maritime trade traveling through the Persian Gulf.
"This will be available to all Shipping Lines," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
He added that if necessary the United States Navy would begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible.
"No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD. The United States’ ECONOMIC and MILITARY MIGHT is the GREATEST ON EARTH — More actions to come,"he said.
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603033296
LIVE: Rubio, Hegseth, Ratcliffe and Caine Brief Congress on Iran Strikes Amid Growing WarAC15 1 hour ago
Top U.S. national security officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine are scheduled to brief both chambers of Congress on U.S. military operations and strategy regarding Iran. The classified briefings will take place on Capitol Hill with a Senate session at 2030 GMT and a House session at 2200 GMT, as lawmakers weigh the legal authority for ongoing U.S. strikes and debate possible war powers resolutions. Republicans have defended the actions as necessary to protect U.S. and allied forces, while Democrats have pushed for greater oversight and clearer justification for the conflict.
16:35
https://www.youtu.be/qt9w4X8RRXI
>>24336699. Rubio never gets mixed up or tricked
Alec Lace
@AlecLace
🚨 FLASHBACK: Barack Hussein Obama gifted our most sophisticated Drone to Iran and then asked for it back.
Next: Iranian officials claimed they could now reproduce the Drone
Fast Forward: Iran is now using sophisticated suicide drones
From
Alec Lace
12:13 PM · Mar 3, 2026
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371.6K
Views
https://x.com/AlecLace/status/2028881516105752668?s=20
My impression is Obama should be ditching the US for territory he cannot be dragged back to the US!
But as the saying goes,where there’s a will, there’s is a way
Dapper Detective
@Dapper_Det
BREAKING: Third World Somali Pirate just pleaded guilty to a massive $6 million Minnesota Autism center fraud scheme.
Abdinajib Yussuf was just 22-years-old when he became an American taxpayer millionaire.
Trump was right. These people are garbage.
Ilhan Omar
@IlhanMN
·
Dec 7, 2025
It is disgusting that Trump’s hateful words of calling Somali Americans “garbage” have continued to go unchecked by members of the Republican Party.
These are US citizens he is denigrating.
https://x.com/Dapper_Det/status/2028640805276065925?s=20
FROM THE LIVEBLOG OF TUESDAY,
MARCH 3, 2026
Israel conducted the strike on regime clerics gathering to elect new Iranian supreme leader — defense source
By EMANUEL FABIAN
An Israeli defense source confirms that the Israeli Air Force struck a building in the Iranian city of Qom where senior clerics had gathered to elect Iran’s new supreme leader.
The Assembly of Experts has 88 members, though it is unclear how many of them were at the building at the time of the strike, according to the official.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-conducted-strike-on-body-gathering-to-elect-new-iranian-supreme-leader-defense-source/
https://x.com/mhmiranusa/status/2028831569960403229?s=20
STOP IT!!! —THIS IS NOT FUNNY!!!🤣🤣🤣. Yes it is
0:30
https://rumble.com/embed/v74d2bw/?pub=4
AMEN, BROTHER!!!❤️ —GOD'S WILL SHALL BE DONE!!!
You Gotta be Happy About That!
2:10
https://rumble.com/embed/v74csle/?pub=4
I KNEW IT!!!😂😂😂
(Ok this is the best on il Trumpo)
0:14
https://rumble.com/embed/v74cl2k/?pub=4
BACK TO SAVING THE WORLD!!!❤️
I love this music, it so fits Trump’s Stature and Depth
0:55
https://rumble.com/embed/v74asja/?pub=4
LIVE UPDATE arrow right icon FROM THE LIVEBLOG OF TUESDAY,
MARCH 3, 2026
Syria sends thousands of troops to Lebanon border, sources say
By REUTERS
Syria has reinforced its border with Lebanon with rocket units and thousands of troops, eight Syrian and Lebanese sources say, as conflict spreads in the region, including between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.
The sources include five Syrian military officers, a Syrian security official and two Lebanese security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Syrian officers say the Syrian reinforcement operation began in February but sped up in recent days. The Syrian and Lebanese armed forces do not immediately respond to requests for comment
The Syrian officers, including a senior member of the military, say the move is aimed at preventing arms and drugs smuggling as well as blocking Hezbollah or other terrorists from infiltrating Syria.
A Syrian officer tells Reuters that military formations from several Syrian army divisions have expanded their presence along the border in the western Homs countryside and south of Tartus.
The reinforcements include infantry units, armored vehicles and short-range Grad and Katyusha rocket launchers, the official says.
The Syrian security official says Damascus has no plans for military action against any neighboring country.
“But Syria is prepared to deal with any security threat to itself or its partners,” he says.
The move has fueled concern among some European and Lebanese officials over a possible incursion.
The Syrian military officers vehemently deny any such plans, saying Syria wants balanced relations with its neighbor after decades of strained ties linked to Syria’s outsized influence in Lebanon and Hezbollah’s support for the former government of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a 14-year civil war.
Syria had troops stationed in Lebanon from 1976 until 2005, including during Lebanon’s civil war that ended in 1990.
A senior Lebanese security official says Syrian authorities told Beirut that Syria’s deployment of rocket launchers along the mountains that form Lebanon’s eastern border withSyria is a “defensive measure against any action or attack that Hezbollah might launch against Syria.”
Today, 10:16 pm
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/syria-sends-thousands-of-troops-to-lebanon-border-sources-say/
TRUMP SAYS MOST IRANIAN CAPABILITIES ALREADY 'KNOCKED OUT'
Trump says he may have ‘forced’ Israel’s hand into war with Iranian ‘lunatics’
Trump says Iran was ‘going to attack first,’ most people he’d considered as potential future leaders of Iran ‘are dead’; said to have spoken with Netanyahu 15 times in run-up to war
By JACOB MAGID FOL
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied that Israel dragged the US into war with Iran, insisting that if anything, the opposite could be true and that he felt Iran was going to attack first.
Speaking at a press conference in the Oval Office alongside visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump also asserted that Iran’s military capabilities have been “knocked out” and speculated on who could lead the country following the death of supreme leader Ali Khamenei in an Israeli strike.
Asked by a reporter whether Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forced the US into joining a war against Iran, Trump offered a denial that seemed to counter comments made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio a day earlier.
“No, I might have forced their hands. You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they [the Iranians] were going to attack first,” Trump claimed.
Pentagon briefers on Sunday reportedly told Congress that the US did not have intelligence that Iran was planning a preemptive strike against the US.On Monday, Rubio suggested that Washington attacked only after learning that ally Israel was going to strike.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-says-he-may-have-forced-israels-hand-into-war-with-iranian-lunatics/
Suspected Iranian drone attack hits CIA station in Saudi Arabia - WaPo
1 hour ago
Listen to this article
A suspected Iranian drone attack targeted the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station in Saudi Arabia, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday citing informed sources.
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603039942
LIVE UPDATE FROM THE LIVEBLOG OF TUESDAY,
MARCH 3, 2026
IRAN WILL NOT ‘AUTOMATICALLY’ FALL AFTER KHAMENEI’S DEATH, SHAH’S WIDOW SAYS
By AFP
Today, 6:05 pm
The killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, is “historically significant” but will not “automatically” lead to the fall of the Iranian system, the widow of the country’s last shah tells AFP in an interview Tuesday.
“The passing of a man — however central he may be to the architecture of power — does not automatically mean the end of a system,” says Farah Pahlavi, who has lived in exile in Paris since being driven out of Iran in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“What will be decisive,” she says, is “the ability of the Iranian people to unite around a peaceful, orderly and sovereign transition to a state governed by the rule of law,” which she adds her son Reza Pahlavi “is in the process of preparing.”
HTTPS://WWW.TIMESOFISRAEL.COM/LIVEBLOG_ENTRY/IRAN-WILL-NOT-AUTOMATICALLY-FALL-AFTER-KHAMENEIS-DEATH-SHAHS-WIDOW-SAYS/
I doubt he will ever be safe there! Too soon! And a mistake. They kicked the Shah out too.
Trump says he may have ‘forced’ Israel’s hand into war with Iranian ‘lunatics’
US president says Iran was ‘going to attack first,’ most people he’d considered as potential future leaders of Iran ‘are dead’; said to have spoken with Netanyahu 15 times in run-up to war
By JACOB MAGID FOLLOW
Today, 10:39 pm.1/2
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied that Israel dragged the US into war with Iran, insisting that if anything, the opposite could be true and that he felt Iran was going to attack first.
Speaking at a press conference in the Oval Office alongside visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump also asserted that Iran’s military capabilities have been “knocked out” and speculated on who could lead the country following the death of supreme leader Ali Khamenei in an Israeli strike.
Asked by a reporter whether Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forced the US into joining a war against Iran, Trump offered a denial that seemed to counter comments made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio a day earlier.
“No, I might have forced their hands. You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they [the Iranians] were going to attack first,” Trump claimed.
Pentagon briefers on Sunday reportedly told Congress that the US did not have intelligence that Iran was planning a preemptive strike against the US. On Monday, Rubio suggested that Washington attacked only after learning that ally Israel was going to strike.
“They were going to attack. If we didn’t do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that,” Trump said of Iran on Tuesday. “So if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” he added. “But Israel was ready, and we were ready.”
A Channel 12 news report on Tuesday said that Trump and Netanyahu spoke some 15 times in the two months before the attacks were launched, and that the US president gave a green light to the operation after waiting to see if the last-ditch nuclear negotiations with Iran would remain deadlocked.
Speaking on day four of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, Trump asserted that the Islamic Republic’s navy, air force and air defenses have been “knocked out.”
“They have no navy. It’s been knocked out. They have no air force. It’s been knocked out. They have no air detection. That’s been knocked out. Their radar’s been knocked out. Just about everything’s been knocked out. So we’ll see how we do,” Trump said.
He said that the US would continue its campaign in Iran: “The big scale hitting goes now,” he said. “They’re going to be in for a lot of hurt. First we have to finish off the military.”
He added that the US had an “unlimited” supply of “middle and upper ammunition, which is really what we’re using in this war.”
Turning to the discussion of the “day after” in Iran, Trump said the worst-case scenario would be someone taking over the country who is just as bad as the current regime.
“I guess the worst case would be — we do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person… That could happen,” Trump said in response to a question from a reporter.“We’d like to see somebody in there that’s going to bring it back for the people.”
HTTPS://WWW.TIMESOFISRAEL.COM/TRUMP-SAYS-HE-MAY-HAVE-FORCED-ISRAELS-HAND-INTO-WAR-WITH-IRANIAN-LUNATICS/
2/2
“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” he said. “Now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports.”
Asked about Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late exiled former Iranian shah,Trump said that he seems like a nice guy but that someone currently living in Iran would probably be a more suitable candidate to take over the country.
In a post on his Truth Social account earlier Tuesday, Trump said that it was “too late” to hold diplomatic talks with Iran.
“They want to talk. I said ‘Too Late!’” he wrote in response to a Washington Post op-ed hailing his decision to attack Iran.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday cast doubt on the prospect of negotiations with the US: “For the time being, we are very doubtful about the usefulness of negotiation,” Ali Bahreini told reporters.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump also warned Iranian dissidents against taking to the streets while the bombing is ongoing.
“If you’re going to go out and protest, don’t do it yet,” he said.
Trump claimed the death toll in Iran’s crackdown on protesters in December and January is “much more” than 35,000, after putting the number at 32,000 last week. He said those imposing the crackdown used machine guns to mow down protesters.
The US president was also asked by a reporter why plans weren’t in place to evacuate Americans from the Middle East.
“Well, because it happened all very quickly,” he said.
In an unprecedented measure, the US State Department called on all Americans to leave over a dozen countries in the Middle East on Monday, even though no evacuation flights have been offered by the US government. The State Department is urging Americans to take commercial flights out of the region, even though much of its airspace is closed.
Trump also said Tuesday that it’s possible that oil prices will climb for a “little while” but that they’ll go back down, “lower than even before” after the war ends.
While praising Merz during their meeting, Trump had harsh words on Tuesday for European allies Britain and Spain.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump said of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who initially refused to let US forces use UK bases, before relenting.
The US president also revived his complaints about the UK’s deal to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, despite his administration previously supporting the move. The remote Indian Ocean archipelago is home to a strategically important American naval and bomber base.
“The UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island that they have,” Trump said.
He also criticized the British for their windmills and immigration policies and said they need to open up drilling in the North Sea.
Trump also threatened to cut off trade with Spain, whose left-wing government refused to let US planes use its bases to attack Iran and objected to raising defense funding as part of NATO.
“Spain has been terrible,” Trump said, adding: “We could use their base if we want. We could just fly in and use it.”
HTTPS://WWW.TIMESOFISRAEL.COM/TRUMP-SAYS-HE-MAY-HAVE-FORCED-ISRAELS-HAND-INTO-WAR-WITH-IRANIAN-LUNATICS/
Agencies, Nava Freiberg and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.