India, March 11 -- As Mojtaba Khamenei takes reins of Iran as its new Supreme Leader following his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's assassination in Israel-US strikes on February 28, reports have indicated that Mojtaba was never the choice of his father to succeed the post, so much so that he was not named in his will. Track Iran US conflict updates

"In Khamenei's will, he explicitly asked Mojtaba not to be named as successor," Khosro Isfahani, a research director for the opposition group National Union for Democracy with ties to Iranian intelligence, was quoted as saying by New York Post.

Isfahani further said that Mojtaba has been 'nothing without his father's name'.

Mojtaba, 56, was named as Iran's Supreme Leader on March 8, over a w...