Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s late supreme leader, has survived the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran in which his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, two Iranian sources tell Reuters.

Mojtaba is seen by the establishment as a possible successor to his father, the sources said.

A mid-ranking cleric with close ties to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, hardliner Mojtaba is one of the most influential figures in the Iranian establishment. He has for years been seen as one of the top candidates to succeed his father.

“He (Mojtaba) is alive … he was not in Tehran when the supreme leader was killed,” one of the sources said.