Who is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran?
Israel Katz, the Israeli Defence Minister, on Thursday said that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 'can no longer be allowed to exist.'
This is the clearest declaration yet of what Israel — and the US — have both hinted at in recent days: that taking out Khamenei, now 85 and reportedly ailing, is one of their ultimate war goals.
In an interview to ABC News on Monday, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that striking Khamenei would not escalate the conflict, but 'end it.' A day later, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he knew exactly where Khamenei was hiding, warning 'we are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now… (but) our patience is growing thin.'
Khamenei, on his part, has refused to bow down to external pressure. 'Intelligent people who know Iran, the nation and the history of Iran, will never speak to this nation in the language of threats,' he said, 'because the Iranian nation cannot be surrendered.'
Here's a look at the man, his politics, and the nation that he has led for the past three-and-a-half decades.
First, what power does the Supreme Leader have in Iran?
In Iran's theocratic system, the Supreme Leader is the most powerful figure in the country ranking above the president, parliament, and judiciary. Khamenei commands the armed forces, appoints heads of the judiciary, state media, and key security agencies, and holds the power to dismiss elected officials, countermand legislation, and declare war or peace.
His control also extends to foreign and military policy through his oversight of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Force (IRGC) and the Quds Force, which orchestrates Iran's regional operations.
His position is established on the doctrine of velayat-e faqih, or 'guardianship of the jurist', which gives a cleric ultimate sovereignty over an Islamic state. The ideology was developed by his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and enshrined in the constitution of 1979.
Ali Khamenei was born in 1939, in the northern Iranian city of Mashhad. He was the second of eight children in a modest family headed by his father, a religious cleric. Khamenei followed his father's footsteps, pursuing clerical studies in Qom from 1958 to 1964, before joining Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's movement against the Shah of Iran in 1962.
After being imprisoned multiple times by the Shah's regime, Khamenei emerged as a key figure in the 1979 revolution. He served as president from 1981 to 1989, steering Iran through the Iran-Iraq War, before succeeding Khomeini as Supreme Leader.
Khamenei's early years reveal a man of eclectic tastes. He engaged with Iranian intellectuals, absorbing both secular and Islamist ideas. A lover of literature, he has lauded Victor Hugo's Les Misérables as 'the best novel that has been written in history,' telling state television officials in 2004, 'Go read Les Misérables once. This… is a miracle in the world of novel writing.'
What does Khaminei believe in?
Khamenei views liberal democracy and capitalism as flawed, and sees the West as materialistic and Islamophobic. Yet, he is not wholly anti-Western. 'Western culture is a combination of beautiful and ugly things,' he told a group of young Iranians in 1999. 'A sensible nation… will take the good and add it to their own culture… and reject the bad.'
His fundamental critique of western civilisation is that it is overly materialistic. 'The West looks at only one dimension — the material,' he said in a meeting on development. In contrast, Islamic civilisation includes justice, prayer, independence, and 'approaching the exalted God.' His ideal, thus, is not simply a strong Iran, but a spiritually superior one.
Khamenei's influences include Islamist thinkers like the Egyptian Islamic theorist Sayyid Qutb, who wrote 'Islam without government and a Muslim nation without Islam are meaningless' and, of course, Ayatollah Khomeini, the fountainhead of the Islamic Revolution.
And like Khomeini, who referred to the US as 'Great Satan' and Israel as 'Little Satan', Khamenei is known for his unabated hostility towards these two countries. After a Florida pastor threatened to burn the Quran in 2010, Khamenei insinuated there was a larger plot at play. 'The operational command of these acts are in the hands of the system of hegemony and Zionist planning centres,' he said at the time.
What has Khamenei done?
Iranian analyst Mohsen Milani wrote in the Foreign Affairs magazine: 'Khamenei has made it his mission to preserve the revolutionary identity of the state, particularly that it remains devoted to Islamic principles and opposed to the West.'
Under Khamenei, Iran has become a regional power through asymmetric means. The Islamic Republic has funded, trained, and armed a network of proxies from Lebanon to Yemen, enabling Tehran to confront its enemies in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, without risking direct war. Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and various militias in Iraq and Syria have all been recipients of Iranian support.
Khamenei has also reshaped Iran's economy through what he calls the 'resistance' doctrine, a strategy aimed at making the country less vulnerable to international sanctions. This includes reducing reliance on oil, expanding trade with China and Russia, and cutting state subsidies. The efficacy of this doctrine is another matter altogether — the Iranian economy still leans heavily on oil, and subsidy cuts have sparked protests across the country.
Khamenei sees nuclear science as a marker of national pride and progress. For Khamenei, Iran's right to enrich uranium is about not just energy but sovereignty. He has however claimed that Iran does not seek nuclear weapons and he permitted negotiations over the 2015 nuclear deal before criticising the US for pulling out.
At home, Khamenei has orchestrated a political system designed to preserve his rule. He has stacked every avenue of government with loyalists making it difficult for moderates or reformists to gain influence. He has proven ruthless in suppressing dissent, as was evident in 2023 during the Mahsa Amini protests, or in 2009 during what came to be known as the Green Movement.
What comes next?
Khamenei is an 85-year-old cancer survivor. But despite years of speculation, he has not publicly named a successor.
Officially, the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 clerics vetted by the regime, will choose the next Supreme Leader once the office is vacant. But the process is secretive and tightly controlled.
Akbar Ganji wrote in Foreign Affairs that most contenders have already been sidelined, and Khamenei's 56-year-old son, Mojtaba, is a frontrunner. According to Ganji, 'the elder Khamenei's allies have been touting Mojtaba as the leader the country needs,' praising his juristic credentials. Once dismissive of dynastic succession, mocking it in 1990 as akin to passing a 'a man passing a copper wash basin to his heir,' Khamenei now appears to favour Mojtaba's rise.
But factional rivalries and public unrest could disrupt this plan — especially if Khamenei goes on the back of Israeli or American intervention. While the Islamic regime in Iran has been remarkably resilient, it is yet to be seen whether it can survive its latest, arguably greatest ever, challenge.
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