Iran Appoints Slain Leader's Son as New Supreme Leader Amid Oil Price Surge

Dynasty Emerges from Crisis

Iran's Assembly of Experts announced on March 8, 2026, that Mojtaba Khamenei was elected Supreme Leader in a "decisive vote," marking an unprecedented succession that transforms the Islamic Republic into what critics describe as a monarchy-like dynasty. The selection comes about a week after the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in joint United States-Israeli strikes that have plunged the entire region into a sprawling war. Iran International reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) pressured the Assembly of Experts to elect Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader through "repeated contacts and psychological and political pressure."

The second son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba, 56, is widely viewed as a hardline figure with close ties to the powerful Revolutionary Guard, though the idea was not universally popular given the 1979 toppling of the U.S.-backed hereditary monarchy. His religious credentials have been contentious, since he is a hojatoleslam, a mid-level cleric, rather than the higher rank of ayatollah, but his father was not an ayatollah either when he became the country's leader in 1989, and the law was amended to accommodate him.

The Israeli military has already threatened to kill any replacement for Khamenei, while Trump said the war may only end once Iran's military and leaders have been wiped out, telling ABC News on Sunday: "He's going to have to get approval from us. If he doesn't get approval from us, he's not going to last long."

Oil Infrastructure Under Attack

Israeli strikes on Saturday sparked large fires as they hit four oil storage facilities and an oil production transfer centre in Tehran and the province of Alborz, targeting the Aghdasieh oil warehouse in northeast Tehran, the Tehran refinery in the south, the Shahran oil depot in the west of Tehran, and an oil depot in Karaj city. Israel's strikes on 30 Iranian fuel depots Saturday went far beyond what the U.S. expected when Israel notified it in advance, sparking the first significant disagreement between the allies since the war began eight days ago.

Witnesses said oil from the Shahran depot had leaked into the streets, with at least four tanker drivers killed in the attacks in Tehran and Alborz. Iran's Red Crescent Society warned that the toxic rainfall in Tehran, home to approximately 10 million people, could be "highly dangerous and acidic." A CNN team in Tehran saw blackened rain fall on the city on Sunday morning.

Oil prices have surged past $100 a barrel amid the fallout from the United States and Israel's war on Iran, with Saturday's air raids targeting Iran's oil infrastructure for the first time since the start of the war, hitting four oil storage facilities and an oil products transfer centre in Tehran and the province of Alborz.

American Consumers Feel the Impact

The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped by 14% in a week to $3.41 on Saturday, according to data from the AAA motor club. The price was under $3 a week ago, but the conflict has severely disrupted oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, sending crude oil above $90 a barrel. AAA noted that "the last time the national average made a similar weekly jump was back in March of 2022 during the start of the Russia/Ukraine conflict."

This is the highest national average since April 2024, when the average peaked at $3.67, with prices varying from state to state, as West Coast states, Hawaii and Nevada see some of the highest prices, with California topping the list at $5.07, while Kansas is at the lowest end at $2.90. The conflict has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway off the coast of Iran through which about 20% of the world's crude oil and natural gas typically passes.

Despite the rising prices, Trump dismissed concerns in an interview with Reuters this week, saying "I don't have any concern about it. They'll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit."

Global Economic Ripple Effects

The conflict has already led to the suspension of about a fifth of global crude and natural gas supply, as Tehran targets ships in the vital Strait of Hormuz, forcing the region's top oil producers – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Kuwait – to suspend shipments of as much as 140 million barrels of oil.