Iran names Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father as supreme leader and Saudi sharpens warning

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's late supreme leader, has been named as the Islamic Republic's next ruler, authorities announced Monday, as Tehran widened its attacks across the Mideast to strike oil and water facilities crucial to its desert sheikdoms.

With Iran's theocracy under assault by the U.S. and Israel for more than a week, the country's Assembly of Experts chose as the next supreme leader a secretive, 56-year-old cleric who maintains close ties to the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The Guard has been firing missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states since the younger Khamenei's father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed Feb. 28 during the war's opening salvo.

The war has shaken global energy markets, pushing oil prices above $100 a barrel and leading to tighter supplies of natural gas after Qatar turned off its production.

The younger Khamenei, who had not been seen or heard from publicly since the war started, had long been considered a contender for the post. That was even before the Israeli strike killed his father, and despite never being elected or appointed to a government position.

There appeared to be some dissension over his selection. Political figures within Iran criticized the idea of handing over the supreme leader's title based on heredity and thereby creating a clerical version of the rule of the shah, who was toppled during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But top clerics in the Assembly of Experts likely wanted Khamenei to prosecute the war.

Khamenei, who is believed to hold views that are even more hard-line than his late father, now will be in charge of Iran's armed forces and any decision regarding Tehran's nuclear program.

While the country's key nuclear sites are in tatters after the United States bombed them during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, there's still highly enriched uranium in Iran that's a technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Khamenei could choose to do what his father never did — pursue the bomb.

Israel has already described him as a potential target, while U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the idea of Khamenei taking power.

“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me,” Trump has said. “We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump told ABC News on Sunday he wants a say in who comes to power once the war is over; a new leader “is not going to last long” without his approval.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard issued a statement expressing support, as did the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani, speaking to Iranian state television, praised the Assembly of Experts for “courageously” convening even as airstrikes continued in Tehran. He said the younger Khamenei had been trained by his father and “can handle this situation.”

Oil depots in Tehran smoldered following overnight Israeli strikes.

In a sign of rising regional anger, the Arab League chief lashed out at Iran for its “reckless policy” of attacking neighbors, including ones that host U.S. forces.

The U.S. military said a service member died of injuries from an Iranian attack on troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1. Seven U.S. soldiers have now been killed.

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said Monday it intercepted a drone attacking the country’s massive Shaybah oil field. The kingdom followed the alleged drone attack with sharper warnings to Iran that it would be the “biggest loser” if it continued to attack Arab states.

It dismissed comments by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday that Iran had halted its attacks on Gulf Arab states.

“The kingdom affirms that the Iranian side has not implemented this statement in practice, neither during the Iranian president’s speech nor afterward,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Iran has continued its aggression based on flimsy pretexts devoid of any factual basis.”

It added the Iranian attacks mean “further escalation which will have grave impact on the relations, currently and in the future.”

Two U.S. officials say the State Department will order nonessential personnel and families of all staff to leave Saudi Arabia as Iran escalates its attacks. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement. Eight other U.S. diplomatic missions have ordered all but key staff to leave: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and at least 11 in Israel, according to officials. Israel reported its first soldier deaths Sunday, saying two were killed in southern Lebanon, where its military is fighting Hezbollah.

Bahrain accused Iran of indiscriminately attacking civilian targets and damaging one of its desalination plants, though its electricity and water authority said supplies remained online.

Desalination plants supply water to millions of residents in the region and thousands of stranded travelers, raising new fears of catastrophic risks in parched desert nations.

The strike came after Iran claimed a U.S. airstrike damaged a desalination plant there. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the strike on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz had cut into the water supply to 30 villages.

He warned that in doing so “the U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.”

In response, U.S. Central Command spokesperson Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins said that "U.S. forces do not target civilians – period.”

The Iranian Red Crescent Society warned Tehran residents to take precautions against toxic air pollution and the risk of acid rain from the oil depot attack. It also said about 10,000 civilian structures across the country had been damaged, including homes, schools and almost three dozen health facilities.

Lebanon said over a half-million people have been displaced in the week of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The actual number is likely higher. Lebanon’s count of 517,000 refers to those who registered on the government’s online portal. Israel over the past week has called on residents in dozens of villages across southern Lebanon and the entirety of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate.

In Beirut, sheltering families crammed into schools, slept in cars or in open areas near the Mediterranean Sea, where some burned firewood to keep warm.

Israel’s renewed offensive began last week after Hezbollah launched rockets toward northern Israel during the Iran war's opening days.

Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Chehayeb from Beirut and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press journalists Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Matthew Lee in Washington; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, contributed reporting.

This image taken from video provided by Iran state TV shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's slain supreme leader, who has been named as the Islamic Republic's next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)

FILE - Mojtaba, son of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, attends the annual Quds, or Jerusalem Day rally in Tehran, Iran, on May 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

FILE - Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, attends the annual Quds, or Jerusalem Day rally in Tehran, Iran, on May 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

A man carries shoes from his destroyed house that was hit by Israeli airstrikes hit several houses in Sir al-Gharbiyeh village south Lebanon, Sunday, March, 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Israeli security forces inspect a damaged apartment building struck by an Iranian missile in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Residents look on and take pictures as flames and smoke rise from an oil storage facility struck as attacks hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (Arileza Sotakbar/ISNA via AP)

A woman walks past a cordoned-off area damaged during an airstrike in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Mourners gather in frontof the portraits of Hezbollah fighters who were killed by Israeli airstrikes during their funeral procession in Khreibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

People stand on the wreckage of destroyed houses that were hit by Israeli airstrikes in Sir al-Gharbiyeh village south Lebanon, Sunday, March, 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A thick plume of smoke rises from an oil storage facility hit by a U.S.-Israeli strike late Saturday in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a U.S.-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises in the sky in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People take shelter as air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missiles in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Flames rise from an oil storage facility south of the capital Tehran as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Smoke rise as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People check the damage left by Israeli airstrikes late Friday, in the village of Nabi Chit, eastern Lebanon, Saturday, March 7, 2026, where Israeli forces landed overnight and dug a grave in a cemetery searching for Israeli co-pilot Ron Arad who was captured and then went missing after his fighter jet crashed over south Lebanon in 1986. (AP Photo/Ali Salem)

Flames rise from an oil storage facility south of the capital Tehran as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israel military campaign, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Minkah Fitzpatrick is coming home and filling a major need for the New York Jets.

The three-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowl safety and New Jersey native is being acquired by the Jets from the Miami Dolphins, two people with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Monday. One of the people said New York will sign Fitzpatrick to a three-year, $40 million contract extension.

The Jets will send a seventh-round pick in this year's draft to the Dolphins in the deal, according to the people who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the trade can’t become official until the start of the NFL’s new league year on Wednesday.

The deal, first reported by ESPN, should immediately help the Jets, who became the first team in NFL history to go an entire season without an interception.

The 29-year-old Fitzpatrick, who had one year left on his contract with the Dolphins worth a non-guaranteed $15.6 million, was born in Old Bridge, New Jersey, and went to high school in Jersey City — about 25 miles from the Jets' training facility in Florham Park and less than 10 from MetLife Stadium, his new playing home.

It's the second major trade this offseason for the Jets, who are looking to upgrade their defense in coach Aaron Glenn's second season. New York acquired nose tackle T'Vondre Sweat from Tennessee for edge rusher Jermaine Johnson last month.

Glenn fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks with three games left in the season and hired Brian Duker in January to oversee the defense, but he said he would call the plays this coming season. Duker and new safeties coach Ryan Slowik both came from Miami's staff and have familiarity with Fitzpatrick.

Safety was an area the Jets were expected to address in free agency, with Malachi Moore — who was solid in 14 starts as a rookie — the only player on the roster with significant playing time. Andre Cisco and Tony Adams, both of whom have been starters, are set to be free agents.

Fitzpatrick has 21 career interceptions, although he had only one in 14 games this past season for the Dolphins.

The deal comes on a day Miami announced it is moving on from Tua Tagovailoa as its quarterback. The team announced that Tagovailoa, who has been the main starter for the last 5 1/2 seasons, would be released.

Fitzpatrick was the 11th overall pick by the Dolphins in 2018 out of Alabama, where he helped the Crimson Tide win two national titles. He was traded by Miami two games into his second season to Pittsburgh, where he became one of the top players in the league at his position.

Fitzpatrick spent most of six seasons with the Steelers, making the All-Pro team three times while picking off 18 passes during that time. He became the NFL's highest-paid safety in 2022, when he signed a four-year, $73.6 million extension with the Steelers.

Fitzpatrick was traded back to the Dolphins last June in a blockbuster deal, going to Miami along with a 2027 fifth-round pick for cornerback Jalen Ramsey, tight end Jonnu Smith and a 2027 seventh-rounder.

AP Sports Writers Tim Reynolds and Alanis Thames contributed to this report.

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FILE - Miami Dolphins safety Minkah Fitzpatrick runs onto the field during player introductions before an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Nov. 9, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Doug Murray)