"If the son is put in power, then the desire to avenge his father is very likely strong," Pevkur said on the "Terevisioon" morning show Monday.

He added that U.S. intelligence services are not only now beginning to search for Mojtaba's whereabouts but have been monitoring his possible movements and location for a long time.

"It is clearly visible that the Americans' goal is not only the destruction of military and economic targets, but also the elimination of the current leaders of Iran's regime."

Speaking a little later on Vikerraadio, Pevkur added that Mojtaba Khamenei previously served as his father's chief of staff.

"The same bloodline continues. Mojtaba has also been close to power for a very long time and directly involved in it. The coming days and weeks will show whether the Americans are able to locate and eliminate Mojtaba or not."

At the same time, Estonia's defense minister predicted that Iran's ruling regime will certainly not be ready to simply surrender and cannot allow the United States and Israel to do as they wish.

"That will not happen. Israel is fighting and the United States is fighting for its values. And Iran, at least the regime, certainly wants to continue controlling Iran."

According to Pevkur, the conflict in the Middle East is not a classic conflict driven by economic interests, but primarily one rooted in religion. Religious wars, he said, are always of a different nature than conflicts based on economic or geographic interests.

"In Iran's case, the whole struggle is somewhat different in nature from the Russia-Ukraine conflict that directly affects us. While Russia is primarily interested in historical and economic-geographic interests, as well as the natural resources Ukraine has, in Iran's case it is clear that, from their perspective, this is a religious war."

Asked what the United States and Donald Trump's objective in Iran might be, Pevkur said that in democratic and liberal democracies the assumption is that people themselves choose their leaders in free elections.

"The question now is that such free elections have not been possible in Iran, because the regime has controlled everything and suppressed all initiatives by the people. That is the big problem — democracy as such does not exist. But the threat of terrorism and nuclear weapons is real."

Pevkur said it was a major surprise that Iran decided to attack its neighboring countries. He also pointed out that disagreements within Iran's regime are visible on the issue, particularly between the military and political leadership.

"A few days ago, Iran's president apologized to its neighbors for attacking them. But at the same time, the military leadership continued the attacks and continued them yesterday as well."

In Pevkur's assessment, Iran also has a great deal to lose if it ends up in conflict with all of its neighbors.

"Achieving some kind of balance in the region is ultimately also in Iran's own interest. You may end up in a five-year or ten-year war, but that will not make your country any better."

As a negative impact of the Middle East conflict, alongside rising energy prices, Pevkur pointed out that global attention is currently focused on Iran and Ukraine has been forced into the back seat.

"President Zelenskyy also said that in four days more Patriot missiles were used than during the entire four years of the war in Ukraine. And if Ukraine is now in the background, that is certainly not in our interests. Of course, it is our task to continue supporting Ukraine as much as possible."

Commenting on his own vacation trip at a time when the United States had already concentrated significant military forces in the region, Pevkur said no travel warning had been issued.

"The general understanding was that even if an attack were to happen, Iran's response would be directed at Israel. But it would not attack its immediate neighbors. That (attacking neighbors – ed.) was certainly a major surprise for many security experts," Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said.

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