Mostafa Khomeini

Sayyid Mostafa Khomeini (; 12 December 1930 – 23 October 1977) was an Iranian cleric and the eldest son of Ruhollah Khomeini. He died before the Iranian Revolution.

Early life and education Khomeini was born in Qom on 12 December 1930. He was the eldest son of Ayatollah Khomeini and Khadijeh Saqafi, daughter of a respected cleric, Hajj Mirza Tehrani.

He graduated from the Qom Theological Center. Then he lived with his family in Najaf, Iraq, from October 1965. There he had contacts with the Iraqi Shia activist Hassan Shirazi. The group also included Mohammad Beheshti and Morteza Motahhari. Khomeini died of a heart attack in Najaf on 23 October 1977. His father, Ruhollah Khomeini, did not attend the funeral, due to grief.

His death has been regarded as suspicious by both the followers of Ayatollah Khomeini and common people of Iran due to various reports that SAVAK agents were present at the scene. By contrast, Morteza Haeri Yazdi, who was close to the Khomeini family, attributed Mostafa's death to natural causes. Memorial services for Mostafa Khomeini were organized in different cities of Iran which became nationwide protests against the Pahlavi rule.