Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the Ayatollah and designated as Iran's next Supreme Leader, killed in US airstrike in Tehran

Mojtaba Khamenei, designated successor to his father, eliminated in US attack in Tehran.

• In a new and devastating blow to the Iranian regime's leadership, Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, the eldest son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and designated as Iran's next Supreme Leader, has been eliminated in an airstrike carried out by US forces in the Iranian capital.

• According to information circulating in channels close to the regime and confirmed by Western intelligence sources, Mojtaba Khamenei was hit during a nighttime precision operation in a bunker or safe house in northern Tehran, just days after the Assembly of Experts had ratified him — under strong pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — as the official successor following his father's death Last weekend, the attack, carried out with guided missiles and state-of-the-art drones, is part of the intensified “Epic Fury” campaign led by the United States and Israel, which has already decapitated much of Iran’s military and religious leadership.

• Sources indicate that Mojtaba, 56, considered the natural successor due to his ideological and familial ties to the late Supreme Leader, was in a high-level safe house when he was located and neutralized. Mojtaba’s elimination represents a critical setback for the continuity of Iran’s theocratic system. His appointment had been seen as the most stable option to avoid a power vacuum and a potential internal fracture between moderate, ultraconservative, and Revolutionary Guard commanders. With his death, the regime now faces a scenario of extreme uncertainty: there is no clear successor with the same level of consensus, and any new appointment could be perceived as illegitimate or weak by the most radical base. From Washington, President Donald Trump was quick to comment on the event in a brief statement: “One down.

• The regime that threatens America and our allies is falling apart piece by piece. We will not stop until Iran is dismantled as a nuclear and terrorist threat.” The Pentagon and the White House have not officially confirmed the operation, but US military sources have described the strike as “a high-value target successfully eliminated.” In Tehran, the chaos is intensifying. Iranian authorities have yet to issue an official statement confirming or denying Mojtaba's death, though the indefinite postponement of Ali Khamenei's funeral and the total curfew in the capital suggest the regime is grappling with multiple simultaneous losses within its inner circle.

• Analysts warn that Mojtaba's elimination could accelerate the regime's internal collapse or, conversely, further radicalize the surviving factions, leading to a desperate response that could include asymmetric attacks against US bases in the region or against Israel. Meanwhile, bombing continues unabated on nuclear facilities, missile depots, and command centers across the country. The succession in Iran, which seemed settled with Mojtaba's election, is once again up in the air.

• The leadership vacuum in the midst of war could precipitate a fierce infighting or even the end of the current theocratic system—an outcome that Washington and Israel appear willing to force.