As Iran’s military lobs missiles at former friends and longtime enemies, there is a vacuum at the top of its government, according to a new report.
Mojtaba Khamenei was selected to replace his father, Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s supreme leader after the elder Khamenei was killed in a Feb. 28 attack by Israel.
Mojtaba Khamenei has been reported as being wounded in the attack, with the degree to which he was injured varying greatly depending on the source of the report.
To date, he has issued statements and has not appeared in public, as noted by The Times of Israel.
Kobi Michael, a defense analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, said that the younger Khamenei is “an empty entity,” per a report from Fox News.
Michael said Iran is politically rudderless.
“Mojtaba Khamenei does not appear in public, but we also have reliable information that he does not control or lead the regime or what has been left of the regime. The current Iranian leadership is broken, confused, and is almost misfunctioning,” he said.
A report from The Telegraph said that Khamenei was with his father as an Israeli missile closed in on their quarters, but stepped out moments before the impact that killed his father.
🚨 LEAKED audio posted by The Telegraph reveals the new Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamanei narrowly missed being killed because he went outside “to do something”
The body of Mohammad Shirazi, chief of Khamenei’s military bureau, was also “blown to pieces”. Only “a few kilos of flesh”… pic.twitter.com/lr4I7H79N3
— Kosher (@koshercockney) March 16, 2026
Michael said Israeli headhunting that is picking off top members of the Iranian government and military is a deliberate effort to further leave Iran unstable, according to Fox News.
Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib was more recently killed by the Israel Defense Forces, Israel announced Wednesday, according to The Washington Post.
A day earlier, Israel announced the killing of Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij paramilitary force.
“This is not a new phase, but a continuing effort and a very successful and impressive one and a crucial component of the strategy meant to weaken the Iranian regime,” Michael told Fox News.
🔴 Netanyahu:
“We eliminated the old tyrant Khamenei, and the new tyrant Mojtaba.”
Did Bibi just admit that Israel killed Mojtaba? Because right now everyone assumes he’s injured and in a coma, not dead.
I don’t think we’ve heard this before.
— 𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 🇮🇷 ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) March 18, 2026
“This is to the degree that it will not be able to reconstitute itself and/or to become again a severe threat and destabilizing player in the broader Middle East,” he added.
“At the very same time, by weakening the regime and paralyzing its capacities generally speaking and its domestic control specifically, the U.S. and Israel are facilitating the required conditions for the Iranian people to topple the regime,” Michael said.
“This is the ultimate victory in their eyes, and the route to this destination is that they are trying to increase any damage wherever they can.”
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