China moved swiftly on Monday to defend the legitimacy of Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment as Iran’s new supreme leader and issue a pointed warning to Israel and the United States against any attempt to target him, framing the leadership succession as a purely domestic constitutional matter beyond the reach of external interference. Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters at a regular Beijing news conference that Iran’s election of a new supreme leader was a decision based on its constitution, and that China opposed interference in other countries’ internal affairs under any pretext. He added that Iran’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity must be respected — language that directly challenged the Israeli military’s publicly stated threat to target any successor to the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening US-Israeli strikes on 28 February. The statement also served as a rebuke to US President Donald Trump, who had dismissed Mojtaba Khamenei as a lightweight and insisted he should have a say in who leads Iran.
The Chinese position carried layered diplomatic weight. Beijing has been among the most vocal international critics of the US-Israeli military campaign, strongly condemning the strikes that killed the elder Khamenei and calling for an immediate halt to military action throughout the ten days of the conflict. China evacuated its citizens from Iran in the opening days of the war and criticised the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites as escalatory violations of international norms. At the same time, Beijing has maintained public criticism of Iranian retaliatory strikes that hit Gulf Arab states — partners with whom China has extensive energy and trade relationships — attempting to position itself as a consistent advocate of de-escalation on all sides rather than an unconditional partisan of Tehran. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin separately sent a congratulatory telegram to the new supreme leader, expressing confidence that Mojtaba would continue his father’s work and unite the Iranian people in the face of severe trials.
Mojtaba Khamenei, born in 1969 and now fifty-six years old, is the second son of the late supreme leader and holds the rank of hojjatoleslam — one level below the highest clerical grade of ayatollah. He has never held formal government office but has cultivated deep institutional ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps over decades, and his appointment was driven in significant part by IRGC pressure on the Assembly of Experts during the days following his father’s death. His elevation was immediately welcomed by Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, while Trump said on NBC News that he thought Iran had made a big mistake, and questioned whether the new leader would last. Israel maintained its threat posture, and the IRGC pledged full obedience to the new leadership and vowed to continue the resistance.
