CAIRO — There are few anecdotes about him, and pictures, at least ones that have appeared in public, are scarce. But Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran's supreme leader, wields considerable power and is a key figure in orchestrating the crackdown against anti-government protesters, analysts say.
The younger Khamenei operates tucked behind an elaborate security structure, an overlapping world that stretches from Iran's Revolutionary Guard corps to the motorcycle-riding Basiji militiamen.
Analysts and former dissidents describe him as the gatekeeper for his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a reclusive son whose political instincts were sharpened in a post-revolutionary Iran where affiliations with security and intelligence services were just as important as Islamic ideology.
The anxiety in the streets of Tehran today goes deeper than the outrage over the June 12 election that authorities say was won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- it is the newest round in a struggle between hard-liners and reformists that began more than 20 years ago over the legacy of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
And at the center, or at least very close to it, is Mojtaba Khamenei. Analysts say the ultraconservative cleric is being positioned to succeed his father but would face tough opposition.
Revered figures of the Islamic Revolution such as Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hossein Ali Montazeri years ago deemed the senior Khamenei's religious and political resumes insufficient for him to succeed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini when he died 20 years ago. However, they found themselves outflanked.
Ali Khamenei gradually has created a bureaucracy to consolidate his power over Iran's military, intelligence and foreign policy. The younger Khamenei, who is believed to be in his 40s or early 50s, working deep inside a political system that is difficult for outsiders to crack, has emerged as a force in that bureaucracy.
Mojtaba Khamenei's influence became evident when he gave key support to Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential election. Ahmadinejad, who analysts say shares the messianic rhetoric and Islamic fervor of the younger Khamenei, unexpectedly defeated two leading conservative candidates as well as Rafsanjani. The Khameneis are now backing Ahmadinejad against Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the opposition leader who says the June 12 election was fraudulent and should be annulled.
