Latest news with #RuhollahKhomeini
Boston Globe
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Under attack from Israel, Iran's supreme leader faces a stark choice
In a video address Wednesday he sounded defiant, vowing 'the Iranian nation is not one to surrender' and warning that if the US steps in, it will bring 'irreparable damage to them.' Here's what to know about Khamenei: Advertisement He transformed the Islamic Republic When he rose to power in 1989, Khamenei had to overcome deep doubts about his authority as he succeeded the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. A low-level cleric at the time, Khamenei didn't have his predecessor's religious credentials. With his thick glasses and plodding style, he didn't have his fiery charisma either. But Khamenei has ruled three times longer than the late Khomeini and has shaped Iran's Islamic Republic perhaps even more dramatically. He entrenched the system of rule by the 'mullahs,' or Shiite Muslim clerics. That secured his place in the eyes of hard-liners as the unquestionable authority — below only that of God. At the same time, Khamenei built the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard into the dominant force in Iran's military and internal politics. Advertisement The Guard boasts Iran's most elite military and oversees its ballistic missile program. Its international arm, the Quds Force, pieced together the 'Axis of Resistance,' the collection of pro-Iranian proxies stretching from Yemen to Lebanon that for years gave Iran considerable power across the region. Khamenei also gave the Guard a free hand to build a network of businesses allowing it to dominate Iran's economy. In return, the Guard became his loyal shock force. He fended off domestic challenges The first major threat to Khamenei's grip was the reform movement that swept into a parliament majority and the presidency soon after he became supreme leader. The movement advocated for giving greater power to elected officials – something Khamenei's hard-line supporters feared would lead to dismantling the Islamic Republic system. Khamenei stymied the reformists by rallying the clerical establishment. Unelected bodies run by the mullahs succeeded in shutting down major reforms and barring reform candidates from running in elections. The Revolutionary Guard and Iran's other security agencies crushed waves of protests that followed the failure of the reform movement. Huge nationwide protests erupted in 2009 over allegations of vote-rigging. Under the weight of sanctions, economic protests broke out in 2017 and 2019. More nationwide protests broke out in 2022 over the death of Mahsa Amini after police detained her for not wearing her mandatory headscarf properly. Hundreds were killed in crackdowns on the protests, and hundreds more arrested amid reports of detainees tortured to death or raped in prison. Still, the successive protests showed the strains in Iran's theocratic system and lay bare widespread resentment of clerical rule, corruption and economic troubles. Trying to defuse anger, authorities often eased enforcement of some of the Islamic Republic's social restrictions. Advertisement He built Iran into a regional power When Khamenei took power, Iran was just emerging from its long war with Iraq that left the country battered and isolated. Over the next three decades, Khamenei turned Iran around into as assertive power wielding influence across the Middle East. One major boost was the U.S.'s 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein, which eventually brought Iranian-allied Shiite politicians and militias to power in Iraq. Iraq provided a linchpin in Iran's Axis of Resistance, grouping Bashar Assad's Syria, Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. By 2015, the alliance was at its height, putting Iran on Israel's doorstep. The past two years brought a dramatic reversal Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel brought massive Israeli retaliation on the Gaza Strip. It also brought a turnaround in Israeli policy. After years of trying to fend off and tamp down Iran's allies, Israel made crushing them its goal. Hamas has been crippled, though not eliminated, even at the cost of the decimation of Gaza. Israel has similarly sidelined Hezbollah — at least for the moment — with weeks of bombardment in Lebanon last year, along with a dramatic attack with booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies that stunned the group. An even heavier blow to Hezbollah was the fall in December of Assad when Sunni rebels marched on the capital and removed him from power. Now, a government hostile to Iran and Hezbollah rules from Damascus. Iran's Axis of Resistance is at its lowest ebb ever.
India Today
11 hours ago
- Politics
- India Today
Khamenei's fatwa against nukes: Did Iran sell a lie to the world?
"When preserving Muslim blood becomes obligatory for everyone, if preserving the life of one Muslim depends on you, even lying becomes obligatory for you," said the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. This willingness to lie in times of threat and danger is seen by many as an intrinsic part of the Islamic Republic's strategy. That same obfuscation has shaped Iran's decades-long nuclear narrative, toggling between a claimed religious restraint and strategic aggression, centred around one claim: a "fatwa" or a religious decree by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banning nuclear the heart of this narrative is a claim by a top Iranian official, who went on to become its president."The idea struck me to introduce the concept of a fatwa during the 2004 nuclear negotiations. There was no prior coordination," recalled Hassan Rouhani, then Iran's then-chief nuclear negotiator, in a 2012 interview with the BBC. He was the cleric who later served two terms as Iran's president from 2013 to 2021. Later, speaking to the Iranian magazine Mehrnameh, Rouhani described how, during talks with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the UK, he said, "The Supreme Leader has issued a fatwa declaring the acquisition of a nuclear bomb forbidden. This fatwa is more important to us than the NPT or any additional protocol. It matters more than any law."advertisementThis was 2004, and Iran was under scrutiny over its nuclear programme, which it claims is for peaceful, civilian the US invading Saddam Hussein's Iraq over its alleged stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in 2003, the heat was on Iran. The Islamic Republic's two undeclared nuclear facilities were also revealed by an Iranian opposition then, the "Khamenei fatwa" has become a central diplomatic tool wielded by Iran at nuclear talks, invoked to signal moral clarity while maintaining strategic yesterday once again -- after over two foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain are likely to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday (June 20) in Geneva, Reuters reported, quoting a German diplomatic meeting will come as the Israel-Iran conflict enters its second June 13, Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion", a coordinated strike targeting Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure across multiple cities, including Tehran, Natanz, Shiraz, Kermanshah, and Esfahan. Iran retaliated with more than 400 missiles. Some evaded Israel's Iron Dome and caused civilian has been secretive about its nuclear facility in Dimona too. Combined with Iran's threats to annihilate Israel, its nuclear programme has been seen suspiciously by the Iran has claimed its right to civilian nuclear energy, and has time and again referred to the fatwa to claim that it would never go for nuclear-grade uranium has been referred to as the fatwa are remarks by Khamenei. It's technically not a fatwa, but Iranians say since the advice was from the Supreme Leader, it should be considered so."Fatwas can change," warned Mehdi Khalaji, an Iran expert and former seminarian. "Khamenei can easily issue another one."So, is the Khamenei fatwa more of a political valve than a theological wall?IRAN'S DIPLOMACY ON N-PROGRAMME AND THE FATWAThe turning point came in 2002, when the exiled opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) publicly revealed that the country had two undeclared nuclear facilities in Natanz and disclosures were confirmed by satellite imagery and later by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections, which uncovered advanced uranium enrichment activities and heavy water production, sparking international fears that Iran's nuclear programme was not strictly tensions mounting, the regime moved to craft a moral late 2003, amid the early phase of the nuclear standoff, Khamenei declared that the production and use of nuclear weapons were haram (forbidden).advertisementIn October 2003, under growing global pressure, Khamenei gave a speech declaring weapons of mass destruction forbidden."We don't want a nuclear bomb These things don't agree with our principles."This was a calculated move to present Iran's nuclear posture as rooted in coincided with the US invasion of Iraq, which heightened Iranian fears of becoming Washington's next responded by projecting religious restraint: a deliberate attempt to frame its position not as a result of geopolitical pressure, but of Islamic in 2004, presented those remarks as Khamenei's in August 2005, Iran formally cited the fatwa at an IAEA meeting in Vienna, claiming Islamic teachings prohibited such fatwa was never an irreversible decree. Instead, it was a result of political expediency, most notably a 2010 message where Khamenei called the use of nuclear weapons haram but said nothing about building or storing EXACTLY IS THE KHAMENEI FATWA?What Iranian diplomats later hailed as a "fatwa" began as the final paragraph of a 2010 message Khamenei sent to a Tehran disarmament conference. This was not a formal religious ruling, but a political statement repurposed as theology, according to a report by an American think-tank, the Atlantic portion of that message, promoted by Iranian diplomatic missions as a binding fatwa, reads:"We believe that adding to nuclear weapons and other types of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical weapons and biological weapons, are a serious threat to humanity. The Iranian nation, which itself is a victim of the use of chemical weapons, feels more than other nations the danger of the production and accumulation of such weapons and is ready to put all its resources in the way of dealing with it. We consider the use of these weapons to be haram (forbidden), and the effort to protect mankind from this great disaster is everyone's duty."Though framed as a definitive religious decree, this statement was part of a broader diplomatic Iranian embassies abroad repeatedly marketed it as such, turning it into a central piece of Iran's diplomatic arsenal during nuclear to the Foreign Policy magazine, Khamenei actually issued an anti-nuclear fatwa in the mid-1990s upon a request for his religious opinion on nuclear weapons. It says the Khamenei letter was never made public as then Iran President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani argued against nuclear weapons, and the fatwa's publicity was deemed unnecessary FATWA AND RATIONAL FATWA: KHAMENEIThe Supreme Leader's official website has multiple pages dedicated to his views on nuclear weapons, including a list of 85 statements he's made on the of those, the word haram appears only three times, and always in reference to the use of nuclear weapons, never their production or storage. He has, in two cases, also described the use of weapons of mass destruction as a "great sin".The only instance in which Khamenei explicitly used the word "fatwa" appears in a 2015 speech:"We don't want a nuclear weapon. Not because of what they say, but because of ourselves, because of our religion, because of our rational reasons. This is both our religious fatwa and our rational fatwa. Our rational fatwa is that we don't need nuclear weapons today, tomorrow, or ever. Nuclear weapons are a source of trouble for a country like ours."Under Sharia, actions are ranked from obligatory to has never labelled the production of nuclear weapons as haram — only the use, and even that vagueness is strategic, say some experts. It lets Iran look peaceful while keeping the door open. For hardliners, it's enough to justify moving fatwas are flexible by design. In the 1890s, a tobacco-ban fatwa sparked a revolt, then quietly disappeared once it served its observers argue that Khamenei's "fatwa" is the same — a political signal, not a religious block, meant to calm the world, not limit BELIEVED IN IRAN'S NUCLEAR FATWA?For years, Iran's nuclear fatwa drew little between 2013 and 2015, as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) talks intensified, it became central to Tehran's diplomatic messaging. Iranian officials pushed it hard, and soon US diplomats and media echoed the claim that Iran was religiously bound to avoid nuclear was no accident. As revealed in diplomat-academic Javad Zarif's memoir The Undisclosed Secret, the fatwa was a calculated tool, used to boost Iran's credibility and ease Western strategy 2014, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "I have great respect for a fatwa. A fatwa is a very highly regarded message of religious importance. And when any fatwa is issued, I think people take it seriously, and so do we, even though it's not our practice... President Obama and I both are extremely welcoming and grateful for the fact that the supreme leader has issued a fatwa", according to Iran the next few years, Iran shifted from nuclear restraint under the JCPOA to renewed defiance after the US exited the deal in May 2018, President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the JCPOA, calling it a "disastrous deal." He argued it failed to address Iran's missile programme, had weak enforcement, and gave Tehran sanctions relief without stopping its regional aggression or long-term nuclear on, Iran gradually ramped up its nuclear activity, enriching uranium beyond the deal's limits, installing advanced centrifuges, and restricting access to international economic pressure fuelled domestic unrest, and by 2020, following events like the killing of General Qassem Soleimani and the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's posture grew more defiant, signalling a shift away from earlier CAPABILITY OF 'CORNERED CAT' IRANIranian officials have hinted for years that the religious prohibition could disappear if the state is 2021, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi warned, "The Supreme Leader has explicitly said [nuclear weapons] are religiously forbidden. But a cornered cat may behave differently." If the West pushed Iran too far, he suggested, Iran might have no choice, according to a New York Times posture hardened further in 2023. Khamenei warned that world powers "cannot stop" Iran if it chooses to build a Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, claimed all technical components were in March 2024, cleric Mohammad Fuker Meibodi argued the Quran "commands Muslims to possess weapons that instil fear in enemies", hinting that nuclear arms now fit that command, according to the report by the Atlantic Reza Aghamiri, a nuclear scientist close to Khamenei's office, declared in 2022 that Iran could enrich to 99% and build a nuclear warhead "like North Korea".Two years later, he said Iran "has the capability" to build the bomb and that "the supreme leader could tomorrow change his stance".The rhetoric intensified even more after April 2024, when Iran conducted missile and drone strikes on Israel. Within days, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) nuclear security chief Ahmad Haghtalab warned of a potential doctrinal shift if Israel targeted Iran's nuclear Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) broadcast his remarks in April 20, 2024, the reformist Hammihan daily declared that proxy warfare had run its course, and Iran now needed deterrence, possibly through nuclear ambiguity or even THERE AN ACTUAL NUCLEAR THREAT FROM IRAN?Just days later, IRGC officer and MP Javad Karimi Ghodousi claimed Iran could test a bomb within a week "if [the supreme leader] issues permission".On April 23, he went further, saying a warhead could be assembled in half a day. The Foreign Ministry scrambled to contain the fallout, with spokesperson Naser Kanani insisting nuclear weapons "have no place" in Iran's in May 2024, Kamal Kharrazi, top adviser to Supreme Leader Khamenei, reinforced the an interview with Al Jazeera, he said, "We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb but should Iran's existence be threatened, there will have no choice but to change our military doctrine."Throughout late 2024 and early 2025, Iran steadily enriched uranium to 60% at Fordow and Natanz using advanced centrifuges, accumulating a stockpile sufficient for multiple warheads, according to the Arms Control it claimed peaceful intent under the NPT, officials began alluding to "special measures", a veiled reference to weaponisation or relocating May 2025, the IAEA reported Iran had amassed enough 60% enriched uranium for nine bombs and, for the first time in two decades, declared Tehran non-compliant with safeguards, according to a BBC June 12, the IAEA formally cited Iran for the breach. Tehran responded by announcing a new enrichment facility, likely fortified and concealed, though nominally under IAEA oversight.A Khamenei fatwa on nuclear weapons might exist, but what is more pertinent for discussion is the purpose why it was publicised later during negotiations, and what was achieved through the fatwa, it seems, was never a brake on Iran's nuclear ambitions, it was a mere cover. Framed as a moral prohibition, it served as a political tool to ease international pressure while Tehran expanded its nuclear capabilities in the shadows. Now, with officials openly hinting at weaponisation and enrichment levels reaching weapons-grade thresholds, the myth of religious restraint has collapsed. What remains is the reality: the fatwa was not a boundary, but a diplomatic deception. It was a lie used not to prevent a bomb, but to hide InMust Watch
India Today
13 hours ago
- Politics
- India Today
From Barabanki to Tehran: Khomeini's UP roots in spotlight amid Israel-Iran tensions
As tensions between Israel and Iran continue to rise, with airstrikes, political threats, and widespread destruction dominating headlines, a small Indian village has quietly become part of the global located in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh, has a deep ancestral connection to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - the architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and founding father of the Islamic Republic of historical link has brought fresh attention to the village, which today finds itself praying for peace as the region its ancestors helped shape face one of its most dangerous military escalations in BEGAN IN 1830 The story dates back to around 1830, when Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi - a Shia cleric and scholar - was born in Kintoor. Driven by his commitment to religious education, he left India during British colonial rule and travelled through Iraq to settle in Iran. There, he continued his spiritual and theological pursuits and chose to retain his Indian identity by adding "Hindi" to his eventually settled in the Iranian town of Khomeyn, where he raised a family. His son, Mostafa Hindi, also became a cleric, and his grandson, Ruhollah Khomeini, would go on to lead a revolution that forever changed Iran's political and religious FROM SCHOLAR TO SUPREME LEADERBorn in 1902, Ruhollah Khomeini inherited the religious teachings and legacy of his grandfather and father. Influenced by their Shia beliefs and resistance to Western interference, Khomeini rose through the clerical ranks and became a powerful political voice. His opposition to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's pro-Western monarchy gained mass support throughout the 1960s and 70s, culminating in the Islamic Revolution of the Shah deposed, Khomeini became Iran's first Supreme Leader, establishing a theocratic state governed by Islamic law. His leadership defined Iran's anti-Western stance, transformed its internal laws, and created a powerful alternative axis in Middle Eastern LIVING LEGACYBack in Kintoor, the family of Ayatollah Khomeini still lives in a neighbourhood called Mahal Mohalla. Nihal Kazmi, Dr Rehan Kazmi, and Adil Kazmi proudly trace their ancestry to Ahmad Musavi Hindi, calling themselves direct descendants of the man who shaped modern Iran through his lineage. Inside their home, framed photographs of Khomeini still decorate the walls. "He added 'Hindi' to his name to show that his heart beat for India," says Adil Kazmi. "When we visited Iran and told people we were from Kintoor, they welcomed us with great honour. It was clear they remembered where their spiritual leader came from."advertisementThe villagers consider this historical connection a matter of immense pride, and treat it as an intellectual and spiritual legacy rather than a mere genealogical KHAMENEI'S ROOTSWith global speculation swirling around who will succeed Iran's current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, some confusion has emerged about his links to India. The Kazmi family is quick to set the record straight: "Khamenei has no ancestral link to Kintoor," says Dr Rehan Kazmi. "He is the disciple and political successor of Ayatollah Khomeini, but not from our family or village."A CALL FOR PEACE, NOT WARAs Iran faces renewed airstrikes and political pressure from Israel, Khomeini's descendants in India have expressed deep concern over the escalating conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently declared that 'no one is immune' to attacks, alluding even to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. In response, Iran has fired over 400 ballistic missiles and more than 1,000 drones across Israeli territories since the beginning of Israel's Operation Rising to the violence, Dr Rehan Kazmi said, "The attacks by Israel are inhumane. Iran is responding defensively. We pray this war ends soon, and that peace prevails. No one benefits from bloodshed."Adil Kazmi added, "Yes, we are proud of our ancestor, but we are also saddened that his name is now caught between headlines of war. His identity was also about philosophy, knowledge and justice. We want the world to associate his name with peace, not just power."FROM CONFLICT TO PRAYERFor the villagers of Kintoor, the current events are not just news from a distant land, but a reminder of their historical and spiritual bonds. "This land once gave birth to a bloodline that would change the world," said one resident. "Today, hands rise from this soil in prayers for peace."Dr Rehan Kazmi notes, "Islam teaches justice and peace. This is what Ayatollah Khomeini stood for too. While the world talks about missiles, we in Kintoor remember the values he lived for."A SYMBOLIC CROSSROADKintoor today is more than a geographical dot in Uttar Pradesh. It represents a cultural and emotional bridge between India and Iran - from the modest walls of Mahal Mohalla to the corridors of power in as political narratives shift and global tensions grow, the message from this Indian village remains unchanged, "No more war. Let peace speak louder."(With inputs from Syed Rehan Mustafa Rizvi)
News18
17 hours ago
- Politics
- News18
From UP's Barabanki To Tehran: The Indian Roots Of Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei
Last Updated: What is lesser known -- even in Iran -- is that both Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, share ancestral ties with India Long before Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini stormed Iran's political stage, his roots could be traced back all the way to a small village in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh. Born around 1790 in Kintoor's Siroli Gauspur tehsil, Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi — Khomeini's grandfather — sowed the seeds of a legacy that would one day reverberate across continents. As global attention fixes on the Iran-Israel conflict, this unexpected tale of a scholar born in Uttar Pradesh has resurfaced. 'They never returned, but their legacy did not leave this soil," said an elderly man in Kintoor, the unassuming village that once birthed a family destined to shape Iran's history. What is lesser known — even in Iran — is that both Khomeini and his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, share ancestral ties with India. Their lineage leads directly to Kintoor, a village in north India's Gangetic plains, steeped in Shia Islamic learning. As geopolitical tensions escalate in West Asia, this forgotten bond between Iran's revolutionary elite and rural Barabanki is drawing fresh attention. A LOST CHAPTER OF HISTORY Syed Ahmad Musavi was born into a prominent family of Shia scholars in Kintoor. In 1830, at the age of 40, he embarked on a religious pilgrimage alongside the Nawab of Awadh. Their journey took them through the revered Islamic cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq and, ultimately, to Khomein in Iran, where Musavi chose to settle permanently. Even after resettling, he remained fiercely proud of his Indian roots. In Iran, he appended 'Hindi" to his name — a nod to his homeland. 'He added 'Hindi' to his name to keep Hindustan alive in his identity," said Syed Adil Kazmi, a descendant of the Musavi family still living in Kintoor. 'He was proud of being from India, and even his poetry reflected that sentiment." Musavi was not just a religious scholar but also a man of letters. 'He was deeply influenced by both Indian and Persian literary traditions," said Shabbir Ali, a retired madrasa teacher who has preserved oral histories of the family. 'Even in Iran, he made sure his children knew of their Indian past." Local residents still point to the remnants of 'Syed Wada', the Musavi family's ancestral residence in Kintoor. The once expansive structure has withered over time, but people still regard it as a sacred marker. 'It's hard to pinpoint the exact location now, but this is where it all began," said Adil, who claimed to be the eighth generation of Syed Ahmad Musavi Hindi. Syed Wada, the house, though decayed bears witness to a transcontinental journey that helped forge the Islamic Republic of Iran. 'Visitors from Lucknow and even farther come here just to see this place," said Sajjad Rizvi, another local resident. 'They're amazed that such a towering global figure traces his roots to our village." A POLITICAL AND EMOTIONAL BOND For many in Kintoor, the link to Iran isn't just a matter of history — it's an emotional and even political connection. With tensions running high in the Middle East, many villagers openly express solidarity with Iran. 'We are Indians, but our sentiments are with Iran. That's the land where our bloodline now walks. The West and Israel are shedding innocent blood. We stand against injustice," said Imran Naqvi, a local youth. THE MAKING OF A SUPREME LEADER The legacy of Syed Ahmad Musavi lived on in his grandson, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, born in 1902 in the Iranian city of Khomein. Orphaned early in life, he was raised by his mother and elder brother and grew into a scholar of Islamic law, mysticism, and philosophy. He read widely, including the works of western thinkers — an intellectual breadth that would later shape his revolutionary worldview. In 1979, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini led the Islamic Revolution that deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ending Iran's monarchy and establishing a theocratic republic. He became its first Supreme Leader, wielding unmatched political and religious authority. Despite holding the highest office, Khomeini led a life of simplicity. His modest, single-storey house in Tehran remains a symbol of his personal austerity. Even when the house was gifted to him, Khomeini insisted on paying 1,000 riyals — an emblematic gesture of principled leadership. 'Supporters offered to decorate it, but he refused public money," read an entry in Iranian archives. KHAMEINI CARRIES THE TORCH After Khomeini's death in 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took over as Supreme Leader. Today, he guides Iran through another major crisis as it exchanges missile fire with Israel. In recent addresses, Khamenei has vowed not to yield to western or Israeli pressure, continuing the ideological line drawn by his predecessor. Iran's nuclear programme has again become a focal point of global anxiety, with uranium enrichment reportedly reaching 60 per cent — dangerously close to weapons-grade levels. While Israel sees this as an existential threat, Iran insists its nuclear ambitions are purely peaceful. FORGOTTEN NO MORE Back in Kintoor, Syed Ahmad Musavi's legacy is no longer confined to fading memories and old courtyards. Despite struggling with rural challenges like patchy electricity and poor infrastructure, the village now holds a unique place in world history — as the ancestral home of Iran's two most powerful spiritual and political leaders. 'This story must be documented more seriously," said Dr Shoaib Akhtar, a historian at Lucknow University. 'Not just as a cultural curiosity, but as a powerful reminder of how histories and destinies can intertwine across borders." As the world watches Iran's next move on the geopolitical chessboard, few may realise that part of its spiritual compass was once set among neem trees and ancient mosques in Barabanki. And here, in the soil of Kintoor, still echoes the name of a man who proudly signed off as 'Ahmad Musavi Hindi'. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from politics to crime and society. Stay informed with the latest India news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! tags : Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Location : Lucknow, India, India First Published: June 20, 2025, 07:00 IST News india From UP's Barabanki To Tehran: The Indian Roots Of Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei
Time Magazine
a day ago
- Politics
- Time Magazine
A New Middle East Is Unfolding Before Our Eyes
It might be difficult to discern through the black clouds billowing from bomb craters in Tehran, but Iran has spent most of the 21st century as the region's rising power. Until recently, things had really been going its way. In Iraq, the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein, then departed, having turned Iran's largest and most dangerous neighbor from an enemy to a vassal even before Tehran's militias rescued Baghdad from ISIS, and then stayed. The forces Iran sent to Syria did double duty, rescuing the Assad regime while opening an arms pipeline to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia fighting beside them. Based in Lebanon, Hezbollah was the crown jewel in the 'Axis of Resistance' that Iran had arrayed against Israel. And for more than 80 years, opposition to Israel had defined the Middle East. For the Islamic Republic of Iran, it still does. Removal of the Jewish state from 'Islamic lands' is core to the ideology of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which casts Iran in the unlikely role of leader of the Muslim world. America is the Great Satan, but for Iran's proxies in Baghdad, Lebanon, and Yemen, Israel is the target. So on the eve of Oct. 7, 2023, the leaders of Hamas, the only prominent Palestinian node in the axis, had reason to assume that after breaching Israeli defenses on the Gaza Strip and pouring into Israel by the thousands, they would not be fighting alone for long. But the axis of resistance barely resisted at all. Hezbollah launched a few missiles a day toward Israel when the 'Zionist entity' was most vulnerable. Iran's leaders had scanned the battlefield, and, seeing an opponent backed not only by U.S. arms and intelligence, but also a nuclear arsenal, remembered why they were investing in one of their own: survival. In the words of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, creator of the theocratic system that governs Iran, 'The preservation of the system is the highest priority.' Solidarity with the Palestinians was laudable, but there's also such a thing as self-interest. The problem, for both Iran and the Palestinian cause, is that the rest of the Middle East had already come to the same conclusion. During the two decades Iran was extending its military reach in the name of the Palestinians, the wealthy kingdoms of the Persian Gulf had been making common cause with the Jewish state. The fact is, most of the Arab world had made some accommodation or other with Israel. Egypt and Jordan, which share borders with Israel, signed peace treaties with it after suffering repeated military defeats at its hands. The Gulf states aligned with Israel in large part out of a shared enmity for Iran. As home to Islam's dominant Sunni branch, the kingdoms know Iran not only as radical, but as the nominal leaders of the minority Shi'ite branch, and thus a rival. Saudi Arabia, custodian of Islam's holy sites, has its own claim to leadership of the world's Muslims. As autocratic states, the Gulf kingdoms were also eager clients for an Israeli tech sector that had grown out of its military. Surveillance, not least of millions of Palestinians under occupation (and obliged to use Israeli phone systems), generated startups like the spyware firm NSO Group, which soon found clients in the Arab regimes. One, the United Arab Emirates, was the first nation to cement diplomatic ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords, the signal diplomatic achievement of the first Trump Administration. Three other Arab states followed, and the Saudis keep signaling their intention to do the same once the situation in Gaza permits. But Gaza churns on, a war Israel had not expected, and has no plan to win, because at bottom it's not a military affair. The Palestinian question—What to do about the people who claim the same land Jewish Israelis do?—will still be waiting when the shooting stops. The war on Iran, by contrast, is one Israel spent years planning for, and opened with the playbook of deception, decapitation, and precision strikes on missile sites that decimated Hezbollah in the space of a month last September, freeing Israelis from the dread of the militia's 100,000 missiles, and exposing Iran to the Israeli offensive that began June 13. That day, a shepherd posted cell phone footage of an Israeli C-130 low in the sky over Syria, sheep bells clanking over the roar of the engines. The Assad family had fled the country months earlier, helpless to keep rebels out of Damascus without Hezbollah. Iran sent a plane to evacuate its generals to Tehran. There, the question is how Israel will choose to define victory. Regime change did not go so well in Iraq. And the stated goal of demolishing Iran's nuclear facilities appears impossible without U.S. airstrikes. That decision rests with Donald Trump. His choice may alter the region in unforeseen ways. But by reaching past the Palestinians to embrace Israel, as well as the sheiks of the Gulf, the U.S. President already has described the contours of its new, more transactional reality. In 1945, the mere prospect of an Israeli state inspired a boycott by every Arab one, in the name of the Palestinians. Eighty years later, an Arab nation can declare outrage that 55,000 have been killed in Gaza, then dispatch jets to intercept Iranian missiles aimed at Tel Aviv, joining Israeli warplanes in the skies over a new Middle East.
