Iran's New Supreme Leader Has IRGC Ties And A $7.8B Crypto War Chest

Iran's Assembly of Experts named Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, as the country's new supreme leader - the first father-to-son succession in the Islamic Republic's history.

The IRGC immediately pledged full obedience.

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly fell below $66,000 that day as oil surged and markets priced in a continuation, not a winding down, of the conflict.

Mojtaba, a Shia cleric born in Mashhad in 1969, spent decades as an informal power broker in his father's office with deep ties to the Revolutionary Guard.

His appointment came days after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28 that also eliminated other senior leadership figures.

What the Succession Means

Analysts widely read the appointment as a hardline continuity signal rather than an opening for negotiation. Iranian armed forces said they could sustain at least six months of high-intensity conflict at the current operational pace.

Israel struck fuel depots in Tehran's Kuhak and Shahran districts over the weekend, with Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen warning that refineries and power stations remain on the target list.

Trump responded on Truth Social: "Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay." He offered no timeline for ending operations.