Isn't he dead...??
Lethal elite 'black-clad' kill squad guards Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei
Well-paid NOPO unit deployed following targeted attack on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
By Emma Bussey Fox News
Published March 10, 2026 7:37pm EDT
An elite counterterrorism unit has been deployed to protect Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, following the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Fox News Digital has learned.
The force, known as NOPO — Iran’s black-clad Counterterrorism Special Force — was assigned to safeguard the leader after a U.S.-Israel strike on a Tehran compound on Feb. 28 killed the elder Khamenei amid the start of Operation Epic Fury.
"With Khamenei gone, NOPO will now be protecting Mojtaba Khamenei," Ali Safavi, an official with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI said.
The force, formed in 1991, was initially the "nucleus" of the IRGC’s 28th Ruhollah (Khomeini’s first name) Division, according to Safavi, and typically handles hostage rescue operations.
The history of the unit also includes deployments against internal security threats, and it has often been called on to suppress protests.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts elected Mojtaba Khamenei on March 8, 2026, elevating him as the third Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.
His succession comes amid ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel, but so far, Mojtaba Khamenei has not been heard from since the start of the conflict.
According to The Times of Israel, Iranian state television reported that Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded in the war, with the reports yet unconfirmed.
"NOPO is the Farsi acronym for Nirouyeh Vijeh Pasdaran Velayat, which translates into the Special Force to Protect the Supreme Leader," Safavi further explained.
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