Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader who reportedly died at age 86 in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike on his Tehran residence, wielded absolute power at the apex of Iran's theocratic system for 37 years.
In Iran, the Supreme Leader serves as the ultimate decision-maker on state policy and stands at the pinnacle of the power structure. The position is also regarded religiously as God's representative on earth. The Supreme Leader exercises sweeping authority, including final approval and oversight of domestic policies, certification of elections, appointment of the judiciary chief and state media executives, power to appoint or dismiss the president and cabinet, and pardoning authority. The leader may also issue fatwas—religious edicts or interpretations of Islamic law.
Born on April 19, 1939, in Mashhad in northeastern Iran, Khamenei came from a Shia clerical family. He reportedly began studying the Quran at age four. His name carries the honorific titles "Ayatollah," denoting a senior cleric, and "Seyyed," indicating direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad.
In 1958, he relocated to Qom, a Shia holy city, where he studied theology under Ruhollah Khomeini and forged close political ties. The two jointly led opposition movements against the Pahlavi dynasty's Mohammad Reza Shah regime. Khamenei was arrested six times and exiled for three years during this period. After becoming the first Supreme Leader, Khomeini appointed Khamenei as deputy defense minister.
Khamenei ran for president in 1981 following the assassination of President Mohammad Ali Rajai. During the campaign, he survived an assassination attempt when a bomb hidden in a tape recorder exploded, severely injuring his right arm. He won the subsequent election with 97% of the vote, becoming Iran's first cleric to serve as president. In his inaugural address, he declared his intention to "eliminate deviation, liberalism, and leftist forces influenced by America," signaling a hardline stance. He served until 1989 after winning reelection.
When Khomeini died in 1989, Khamenei—who had long been designated as successor—ascended as the second Supreme Leader. He subsequently consolidated power by purging opponents and cultivating loyalists. He also strengthened ties with Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that Iran supported as part of its goal to build an "axis of resistance" against Israel, while leading an aggressive foreign policy.
Domestically, he maintained repressive policies against women, LGBTQ individuals, and religious minorities based on strict Islamic law. A prominent example was the harsh crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests triggered by the 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman arrested for violating hijab regulations.
Late last year, when merchant protests in Tehran over economic hardships from accumulated Western sanctions spread into a nationwide anti-government movement, he ordered a bloody crackdown deploying the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Basij militia. The resulting mass casualties drew intensifying international criticism.
Amid escalating internal unrest and external tensions, U.S. President Donald Trump had been pressuring Iran to resume nuclear negotiations, suggesting possible military intervention in response to the turmoil. The U.S.-Israeli airstrike came on the 28th, two days after the third round of negotiations between the United States and Iran. Khamenei was reportedly killed at his Tehran residence.