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A grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is expected to play a prominent role in discussions among clerics who will decide who will replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader, Reuters reports .
The killing of Khamenei, 86, in a joint US-Israeli strike has made the issue of his successor, a long-standing debate about which there was no clarity despite his age, even more urgent.
Hassan Khomeini is the most prominent of the late Ayatollah's 15 grandsons and is seen as a relatively moderate figure within the Iranian clerical establishment. He enjoys close ties with reformists, including former presidents Mohammed Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, who pursued policies of engagement with the West during their terms in office.
Khomeini, 53, has a symbolic role in public life as the custodian of his grandfather's mausoleum in south Tehran. He has never served in government.
Some politicians in Iran have seen him as a rival to the hardliners who gained influence under Khamenei, particularly his son, Mojtaba.
Arguments for a more moderate successor gained momentum after the unrest that swept Iran in January, as a way to strengthen the Islamic Republic in the face of growing discontent.
Although loyal to the Islamic Republic established after the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, Khomeini has a history of calling for reform and has occasionally expressed dissatisfaction with the authorities.
In 2021, he criticized the Guardian Council after it banned reformists from running for president, paving the way for the victory of Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in 2024.
"You can't choose him for me and tell me to vote for him!" Khomeini said at the time.
He also demanded accountability after the death of Mahsa Amin, a young Iranian girl, in 2022, after she was arrested by morality police for violating the dress code.
The authorities “must transparently and accurately account for what happened to this 22-year-old girl under the pretext of 'guidance and education,'” he said.
However, reflecting his loyalty to the system, he criticized protesters who chanted against Khamenei.
During the December and January unrest, the deadliest since the 1979 revolution, he sided with the establishment, accused protesters of being servants of Israel, participated in a pro-government march and compared the violence to the actions of the Islamic State.
In a letter of condolence, Khomeini said Khamenei would remain “the hero of the Iranian people and Muslims,” adding: “The noble people of Iran will walk again on the path of Imam Khomeini by overcoming this event.”
'Progressive theologian'
A close friend of Khomeini described him in 2015 as a progressive theologian, particularly on issues of music, women's rights and social freedom. He follows trends on social media and is interested in both Western philosophy and Islamic thought.
His wife, Sayyeda Fatima, is the daughter of an Ayatollah, and they have four children.
Some reformists urged him to run for president in 2012, but he refused.
Khomeini supported Rouhani's government negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal, which eased sanctions in exchange for restrictions on the nuclear program, until US President Donald Trump canceled it in 2018. He has spoken out about the economic hardship Iranians have experienced during the years of sanctions.
Banned from running for the Assembly of Experts
A decade ago, Khomeini sought to run for the Assembly of Experts, the body that elects the Supreme Leader.
He initially received the approval of Khamenei, who reportedly gave him his blessing and warned him not to harm his grandfather's name. But he was later disqualified by the Guardian Council.
Although his religious credentials were officially mentioned, Khomeini retained the title Hoxhatoleslam, one level below Ayatollah. This move was seen as an attempt to thwart a challenge from the reformist camp.
In 2008, he was widely seen as a critic of the Revolutionary Guards, saying that those claiming loyalty to his grandfather's legacy should follow his order that the military not meddle in politics. However, he enjoys close ties to the Guards, the elite force tasked with protecting the Islamic Revolution.
During the 12-day air war between Israel and Iran last year, Khomeini wrote to Khamenei praising his leadership and saying that Iranian missiles had become a nightmare for Israel and a source of pride for the Iranian nation, according to the Iranian website Jamaran.
Khomeini has described Israel as the "evil Zionist regime" and "a cancerous tumor" supported by the West, saying the Muslim world must be strengthened to confront Zionism.
He speaks fluent Arabic and English, and was a passionate footballer until the age of 21, when his grandfather sent him to the city of Qom to study Islamic theology.
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