Iran Picks Mojtaba, Khamenei’s Son as New Supreme Leader, Oil Price Exceeds $115

*Trump, Netanyahu: He won’t last 

*Starmer, US President speak for first time since Iran row 

*Saudi Arabia reports first deaths*Iranian drones strike gulf states despite apology
*Qatar: Iran has betrayed us, but all sides must de-escalate

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of the late Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was yesterday chosen as his successor, according to Iranian state media, putting an end to speculations as the country’s war with US and Israel entered its ninth day.
Members of the clerical body responsible for selecting Iran’s highest authority announced the decision, calling on Iranians to rally behind him and preserve national unity, with the assembly saying Khamenei had been chosen through what it described as a “decisive vote”.
The body urged citizens across the country, “especially the elites and intellectuals of the seminaries and universities”, to pledge allegiance to the new leadership and safeguard unity at a critical moment for Iran.
The move could lead to a further escalation of the war, given that Donald Trump had already acknowledged that Mojtaba Khamenei was the most likely successor and made clear he considered such an outcome unacceptable.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s elevation marked the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution that Iran’s supreme leadership has passed from father to son. It is a development likely to ignite debate inside Iran about the emergence of a dynastic system in a state founded explicitly to overthrow hereditary rule after the shah.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled for 37 years, was killed in a US-Israeli strike on Tehran on February 28, on the first day of the war with Iran.
For many analysts, Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment is a symbolic move designed to make the regime still appear strong and determined not to bow to western pressure.
The 56-year-old cleric has never held elected office nor formally occupied a senior position within Iran’s government. He has spent much of his life at the centre of power in Iran while remaining largely out of public view.
Born in 1969 in the north-eastern city of Mashhad, Khamenei was raised within the political and clerical world that emerged after the 1979 revolution. As a young man he studied theology in the seminaries of Qom and reportedly took part in the final stages of the Iran-Iraq war, the UK Guardian reported.
Unlike many figures in Iran’s leadership, Khamenei never pursued elected office or a prominent government role. Instead, he gradually became an influential presence inside his father’s office, where he was widely seen as part of a small circle managing political access to the supreme leader.
Over the years he cultivated close relationships with conservative clerics and elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a connection analysts say strengthened his standing within the system.
His name surfaced publicly during the disputed 2009 presidential election, when reformist figures accused him of playing a role in supporting the security crackdown that followed mass protests. But he has never discussed the issue of succession publicly.
To his supporters, Mojtaba Khamenei represents continuity with the ideological line established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and maintained by his father. To critics, his rise raises uncomfortable questions about the concentration of power – and the possibility of hereditary leadership in a state founded in revolt against monarchy.

Trump: New Leader Won’t Last
But earlier yesterday Trump said that Iran’s next supreme leader was “not going to last long” if Tehran did not get his approval first. He has called Mojtaba Khamenei an “unacceptable” choice.
Besides, in a post on X, the Israeli military said it would continue pursuing every successor of Ali Khamenei and that it would pursue every person who sought to appoint a successor for him.
In the same vein, fighting between Israel and Iran intensified over the weekend. Iranian strikes hit energy infrastructure across the Gulf and Israeli attacks have targeted oil storage and fuel facilities inside Iran.
It also came as a fresh wave of Iranian strikes hit the Gulf on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all reporting attacks. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted 15 drones, while strikes in Bahrain caused “material damage” to an important desalination plant. Two people were also killed on Sunday and 12 others injured after a projectile fell on a residential location in Al-Kharj, a city in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Civil Defense said.
According to reporting by the Washington Post, Fox News, and other US media organisations, Russia has been providing Iran with intelligence that could help it target US military assets in the region. The Guardian was unable to confirm this.
The recent attacks on Gulf states appear to highlight a clash within Iran’s leadership, contradicting remarks made on Saturday by the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who apologised to countries on the Arabian peninsula and suggested strikes against them would end, provided their airspace and US bases were not used against Iran.
But Pezeshkian’s pledge not to strike Gulf states appeared to have exposed rare public rifts within the ruling elite with Iran’s leadership showing signs of strain, as officials of the regime scrambled to explain and reinterpret the president’s words, which appeared to anger the country’s more conservative factions.

Oil Prices Surge Above $115.08 Per Barrel
Similarly, the price of oil surged past $100 per barrel on Sunday, the first time it crossed that mark since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as investors worried that the war in Iran would mean prolonged restrictions on Middle Eastern oil flows.
THISDAY’s checks showed last night that Nigeria’s benchmark, Brent Futures rose  to $115.08 per barrel while US crude futures also rose to $115.08 per barrel. While the rise may substantially increase Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings, on the downside, it will raise local fuel prices and by extension inflation. Already petrol price has exceeded N1,000.
Also, CNN reported that Dow futures, meanwhile, dropped 851.6 points, or 2 per cent. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures fell 1.73 per cent and 1.65 per cent, respectively, as concerns persisted that shocks to the energy market will stoke inflation in the US.
Triggered by the shock of the initial February 28 strikes in Iran, the average price of petrol in America reached $3.45 a gallon on Sunday, up 16 per cent from the week prior, according to AAA.
The Trump administration on Sunday tried to assuage fears that the US and Israeli-led military campaign against Iran would have long-term effects at the pump. Trump told ABC News that the spike in gas prices is “a little glitch.” He called the rapid climb in prices an expected “detour.”

Starmer, Trump Speak for First Time Since Iran Row
Sir Keir Starmer has spoken to Donald Trump for the first time since a major row over the use of British bases for US strikes.
Last week, the US president said he was “very disappointed” in the Prime Minister and that he was “not Winston Churchill” after Sir Keir refused to allow US planes to launch bombing runs on Iran from RAF bases.

On Sunday, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The leaders began by discussing the latest situation in the Middle East and the military cooperation between the UK and US through the use of RAF bases in support of the collective self-defence of partners in the region.

“The Prime Minister also shared his heartfelt condolences with President Trump and the American people following the death of six US soldiers. They looked forward to speaking again soon.”

On Saturday night, the president said he “will remember” the initial lack of British support for his war. Britain denied the US permission to conduct strikes from bases such as Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford, citing international law.

But Starmer relented after 24 hours and said he would allow the US to use for “specific and limited defensive purposes”.

Saudi Arabia Reports First Deaths

Two people were killed and 12 others injured after a military projectile struck a residential facility in Al-Kharj, about 107 km (66 miles) southeast of Riyadh, Saudi Civil Defense said. The incident marked the first reported deaths in the Kingdom since the start of the war with Iran.

Saudi Civil Defense said emergency teams responded on Sunday after the projectile struck a housing site used by a maintenance and cleaning company. The statement did not specify who launched the projectile.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said earlier on Sunday that it had targeted radar systems at several locations, including in Al-Kharj, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported. Al-Kharj lies near Prince Sultan Air Base, a major Saudi air force installation southeast of Riyadh that has been targeted by Iran repeatedly in recent days.

The two killed were an Indian and a Bangladeshi national, while the 12 injured were all Bangladeshi.

Oman Warns Middle East at Dangerous Turning Point

Oman, the US-allied Gulf Arab nation that mediated several rounds of talks between Washington and Tehran, has warned that the Middle East stands at a “dangerous turning point” because of the war with Iran and the dominance of the logic of force over dialogue.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi made the statements to a virtual meeting of the Arab ministers, state-run Oman News Agency reported, noting that the political, economic, and security repercussions left “by this illegal war” threaten the region’s stability and the safety of its peoples.

Just hours before Israel and the US struck Iran last week, Albusaidi said a deal between the US and Iran was “within our reach.”

Iranian Drones Strike Gulf States Despite Apology

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain reported Iranian drone attacks on Saturday and early Sunday, including a huge fire that engulfed a government office block in Kuwait.

Kuwait’s interior ministry said two officers were killed, while the UAE said four migrant workers had died in Iranian attacks there so far.

The UAE said air defence teams had knocked ‌out 16 ballistic ⁠missiles and 113 drones fired towards the Gulf state on Sunday. One missile fell in the sea and four drones hit the country’s territories.

Bahrain said on Sunday that an Iranian drone attack had caused “material damage” to a desalination plant, though water supplies were not disrupted. It was the first time an Arab country has said Iran targeted a desalination facility during the conflict.

On Saturday, Iran accused the United States of striking a desalination plant on Qeshm Island, disrupting water supplies to 30 villages and calling it “a dangerous move with grave consequences.”

Riyadh has told Tehran that continued Iranian attacks on the kingdom and its energy sector could push Riyadh to retaliate, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Lebanon has also been pulled into the conflict after ⁠the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel last week, with nearly 400 people killed by Israel over the past week, the health ministry said.

Qatar: Iran Has Betrayed Us But All Sides Must De-escalate

Meanwhile, Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, has described Iran’s strikes on Gulf countries as a “dangerous miscalculation”, warning the escalation risks destabilising the region and sending shockwaves through the global economy.

Speaking to the media for the first time since Qatar has come under repeated missile and drone attacks, the prime minister said the country had entered what he called “a very difficult period” but praised the professionalism of its defence and security forces.

“It is a big sense of betrayal,” he said. “Just an hour after the start of the war, Qatar and other Gulf countries have been attacked. We made clear that we were not going to take part in any wars against our neighbours,” Sky News reported him as saying.

For a country that has long kept diplomatic channels open with Tehran – even during the most volatile moments – the tone was striking. Qatar has traditionally positioned itself as a global mediator, able to speak to everyone. That relationship with Tehran now appears strained.

“All the attacks on the Gulf countries – we never expected this from our neighbour,” he said. “We have always tried to preserve a good relationship with Iran, but the justifications and pretexts they are using are completely rejected.”

Yet even as he condemned the strikes, the prime minister repeatedly stressed that military escalation would only deepen the crisis – and that the responsibility to step back lies with all sides. “We continue to seek de-escalation,” he said. “They are our neighbours – it’s our destiny,” he stressed.

His message was directed not only at Tehran. He also called on the United States to reduce tensions, warning of the risk that the entire region slides into war. Diplomacy, he argued, remains the only viable path out of the crisis.

“The miscalculation by the Iranians to attack Gulf countries has destroyed everything,” he said, but insisted the answer now must be renewed negotiations. He also pushed back against claims that Iran’s strikes were aimed at military targets.

US Embassy in Oslo Hit

The US embassy in Oslo was hit by a loud explosion early on Sunday morning, causing minor damage but no injuries, according to Norwegian police. The blast at the embassy compound in western Oslo reportedly occurred at about 1am local time.

Police are searching for one or more potential perpetrators, with Norway’s justice minister, Astri Aas-Hansen, saying they had deployed “considerable resources” to the investigation. “This is an unacceptable incident that we are taking very seriously,” she told Norwegian press agency NTB.

 Police said the blast occurred at the entry to the consular section. Yvette Cooper sidestepped a question about UK-US relations being in trouble by saying there is still close cooperation on a range of issues, although divergence can happen as she said it is not in the British interest to “unquestioningly agree” with every strand of American policy.

She made the point of saying it was “important to learn the lessons” from the devastating US-led invasion of Iraq, when it comes to Iran.