Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of Iran's slain former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been named the country's new supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts, a body made up of Shia clerics. The younger Khamenei has never held an official position in the Iranian government, although he allegedly has close ties to the country's security services and has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for representing his father in an unofficial capacity. The choice is widely seen as a signal that the Islamic Republic intends to continue the hardline policies of the elder Khamenei. Heidari Alekasir, a member of the Assembly, told Iranian media that the selection had been made in accordance with the advice of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Iran's next supreme leader be "hated by the enemy."