Get to know Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader who has governed Iran for many decades, while Israeli and US leaders have claimed he died in an airstrike last Saturday (28 Feb 2026) GMT+7.
Ali Khamenei was born in 1943 in Mashhad, in northeastern Iran, the son of a religious scholar. He joined Ayatollah Khomeini’s religious opposition movement against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1962.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ali Khamenei served as Deputy Minister of Defense and played a key role in founding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Following Khomeini’s death in June 1989, Iran’s Assembly of Experts—composed of Islamic scholars and religious leaders—elected Ali Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader, despite him not yet holding the clerical rank required by the constitution for Shia clergy, that of Marja-e taqlid (Grand Ayatollah).
To legitimize the situation, the constitution was amended to require the Supreme Leader to demonstrate "Islamic scholarly qualifications," enabling Ali Khamenei to become an Ayatollah and be elected as the Supreme Leader.
After assuming office, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei consolidated absolute political and military power in Iran and harshly suppressed challengers to the regime, sometimes using violence.
Khamenei has consistently maintained a hardline foreign policy stance, especially in confrontation with the United States, which continues to this day.
He remains suspicious of establishing relations with Western countries, particularly the US. He has also repeatedly called for the eradication of the state of Israel and publicly questioned the occurrence of the Holocaust.
During Khamenei’s rule, Iran has had seven different presidents, while he himself has fathered six children.
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Source:bbc