Ali Khamenei (1939 - 2026) was an Iranian Shia cleric and politician who served as the second Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. A follower of Ruhollah Khomeini during the opposition to the Pahlavi monarchy, he held senior positions after the 1979 revolution and was President of Iran from 1981 to 1989 before succeeding Khomeini as Supreme Leader. [1] His tenure, one of the longest of any modern head of state, shaped Iran's political system, foreign relations and security policy for more than thirty years. [2]
Early life and religious training
Ali Khamenei was born on 19 April 1939 in Mashhad, in north-eastern Iran, the son of a cleric. He began religious studies in Mashhad and continued them at the seminaries of Najaf in Iraq and Qom, where he studied under leading Shia scholars, including Ruhollah Khomeini. [1]
From the early 1960s he was involved in clerical opposition to the government of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, distributing Khomeini's writings and organising among religious students. He was detained several times and spent periods in prison and internal exile during the 1960s and 1970s. [2]
Revolution and the presidency
After the Iranian Revolution of 1979 overthrew the monarchy, Khamenei became a member of the Revolutionary Council and held posts including deputy minister of defence and Friday prayer leader of Tehran. In 1981 he survived an assassination attempt in which a bomb concealed in a tape recorder permanently disabled his right arm. [1]
Later that year, following the assassination of President Mohammad-Ali Rajai, Khamenei was elected President of Iran, becoming the first cleric to hold the office. He was re-elected in 1985 and served through most of the Iran-Iraq War, a conflict that dominated Iranian political and economic life until the ceasefire of 1988. [3]
Supreme Leader
When Khomeini died in June 1989, the Assembly of Experts selected Khamenei as Supreme Leader. The constitution was amended around the same time to remove the requirement that the holder be a leading source of religious emulation, and Khamenei's clerical rank was elevated. [4]
As Supreme Leader he held final authority over the armed forces and the intelligence services, appointed the head of the judiciary and half the members of the Guardian Council, and supervised state broadcasting. This gave the office decisive influence over legislation, the vetting of election candidates and the limits of elected government. [4]
Policies and controversies
Khamenei directed a foreign policy defined by opposition to the United States and Israel and by support for allied armed movements across the Middle East. Iran's nuclear programme became a long-running source of international dispute, producing extensive sanctions; Khamenei gave qualified backing to the 2015 nuclear agreement and denounced the American withdrawal from it in 2018. [2]
Domestically his rule was marked by the suppression of mass protest movements, including the demonstrations that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election and later nationwide protests over economic conditions and compulsory hijab. Human rights organisations documented large numbers of arrests, restrictions on the press and the use of lethal force against demonstrators during these periods. [1]
Death and legacy
Khamenei was assassinated in Tehran on 28 February 2026, ending a leadership that had spanned nearly thirty-seven years. [1] Assessments of his rule differ sharply within Iran and internationally, but his long tenure made him the dominant figure in the country's post-revolutionary history. [2]
