U.S. intelligence assessments shared with President Donald Trump suggested that Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had serious doubts about his son Mojtaba Khamenei succeeding him as the country’s next ruler.

The concerns, described by individuals briefed on the matter, reportedly stemmed from Ali Khamenei’s belief that his son lacked the qualifications needed to lead Iran and from worries about issues in Mojtaba’s personal life.

Sources cited by CBS News — including figures within the Trump administration, members of the U.S. intelligence community, and individuals close to the president — said the elder Khamenei viewed his son as “not very bright” and questioned whether he was suited to assume the powerful position of supreme leader.

The intelligence briefing appears to align with remarks Trump made in a recent interview.
Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Trump suggested that Mojtaba was not the successor his father had wanted.

“He is not somebody that the father even wanted,” Trump said.

Ali Khamenei, who led Iran for decades as the country’s highest authority, was killed earlier in the war that erupted following joint U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iranian targets.

In the aftermath of his death, Mojtaba Khamenei was widely viewed by analysts as a possible successor, in part because of his close ties to Iran’s security establishment and his growing influence inside the regime in recent years.

But the situation inside Iran remains uncertain.

According to the intelligence cited in the report, Trump has privately told confidants that he believes Iran may currently be operating without a clear leader.

The president has also suggested that Mojtaba Khamenei himself may no longer be alive, though officials have not publicly confirmed that claim.

Inside Washington, some officials now believe that Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is effectively exercising the greatest authority in the country as the political situation continues to evolve.

If accurate, that shift could mark a significant change in the balance of power within the Islamic Republic, where the IRGC already wields enormous military, economic, and political influence.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)