Iran has appointed Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to be the country’s new Supreme Leader, the country’s Fars news agency reported Sunday.

Khamenei, who was a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and fought in the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, is considered one of Iran’s strongest hardliners. Until Ali Khamenei’s death, his son effectively served as his chief of staff, managing his political affairs and controlling access to the late Supreme Leader.

According to the Iranian government, Khamenei’s mother, sister, wife, and one of his sons were killed along with his father in U.S.–Israeli airstrikes on the first day of war.