Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, who ruled Iran as Supreme Leader for 37 years, was reportedly killed in airstrikes conducted by the United States and Israel. Khamenei began his political career as a revolutionary who helped topple the Pahlavi dynasty, but seized absolute power as Supreme Leader in 1989, ruling Iran with an iron fist. His suppression of women, homosexuals, and religious minorities, combined with bloody crackdowns on mass anti-government protests and rejection of nuclear negotiations, ultimately hastened his demise.
US President Donald Trump declared on the 28th (local time) that "Khamenei has died in the conflict." The announcement came approximately 15 hours after the US and Israel launched their attack on Iran at 1:15 a.m. local time, or 9:45 a.m. Iran time. According to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency, explosions and thick smoke rose from central Tehran following Israeli airstrikes, in an area identified as near Khamenei's office.
Born on April 19, 1939, in Mashhad in northeastern Iran to a family of Shia Muslim clerics, Khamenei studied the Quran from childhood. In 1958, he moved to Qom, a Shia holy city in western Iran, where he studied theology under Ruhollah Khomeini, grew close to him, and began his political activism.
Khamenei joined Khomeini in opposing Mohammad Reza Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty and was exiled for three years. They launched the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution and established the Islamic Republic after abolishing the Pahlavi dynasty the following year.
His mentor Khomeini became the first Supreme Leader, and Khamenei entered public service as Deputy Defense Minister. In 1981, he was elected Iran's third president with 97% of the vote, becoming the country's first cleric to hold the presidency. In his inauguration speech, he reportedly identified "deviance, liberalism, and the American-influenced left" as targets for elimination. He served until 1989 after winning reelection.
Khamenei inherited the Supreme Leader position when Khomeini died of old age in 1989. In Iran, the Supreme Leader is a lifetime position representing the apex of power as the final decision-maker on national policy, and is also regarded religiously as God's representative. The Supreme Leader wields extensive authority including final decision-making and oversight of domestic policy, approval of elections, appointment and dismissal of the judiciary head, state media executives, the president and cabinet, and pardoning powers.
Khamenei consolidated his power base by purging opponents. He also strengthened ties with Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that the Islamic Republic helped establish in 1982 to "resist" Israel.
Some assessments note he occasionally took flexible, pragmatic approaches. Khamenei granted some discretion to reformist President Mohammad Khatami, elected in 1997. Notably, he did not block Khatami's efforts to improve relations with the US following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Khamenei also personally issued a fatwa (religious decree) banning weapons of mass destruction in 2003. While skeptical of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) negotiated between moderate President Hassan Rouhani and Western powers, he did not oppose its implementation.
However, his oppressive domestic policies under strict Islamic law—suppressing women, homosexuals, and religious minorities—ultimately sealed his fate. Khamenei harshly cracked down on the 1999 student protests against the closure of reformist newspaper Salam, the 2009 demonstrations against hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidential election victory, and the 2022 mass anti-government protests triggered by the suspicious death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman detained for improperly wearing her hijab.
The indiscriminate bloody suppression of mass anti-government protests that intensified earlier this year, using the IRGC and Basij militia, gave the US justification for large-scale airstrikes. Tehran merchants had protested late last year against economic hardships accumulated from Iran's nuclear development and Western sanctions, which escalated into mass demonstrations. Iranian authorities counted 3,117 deaths, but outside estimates suggest more than 30,000 were killed.
This prompted President Trump to signal military intervention over the Iranian unrest while pressing for resumed nuclear negotiations. The US and Israel ultimately struck Iran on the 28th, just two days after the third round of US-Iran talks.
Khamenei's death is expected to plunge Iran into turbulent waters. Khamenei reportedly designated Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, as his representative in case of his incapacitation. However, some observers suggest hardliners from the IRGC may attempt to seize power before succession arrangements are finalized.