Mojtaba Khamenei pursued a religious education, and in the late 1990s he studied under some of Shiʿi Islam’s most prominent conservative clerics at the seminary in Qom. He eventually began teaching courses at the seminary. At the beginning of the 21st century, he enjoyed strong connections not only within the IRGC but also with Iran’s top clerics. His involvement in the Office of the Supreme Leader both enhanced his personal network of powerful figures and placed him as a power broker on behalf of his father. Public attention first turned to Mojtaba Khamenei after the 2005 presidential election. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a relatively unknown conservative running against political heavyweights, emerged as a dark horse in the final days of the campaign. Reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi alleged that Mojtaba Khamenei had leveraged his connections to influence the outcome in Ahmadinejad’s favour.
