US president Donald Trump has introduced the killing of Iran’s supreme chief Ali Khamenei after joint US-Israeli air strikes hit his compound on Saturday.
Trump stated Khamenei and different Iranian officers “could not escape US intelligence and the superior monitoring techniques.”
Khamenei took the helm of the Islamic republic in 1989 following the demise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the charismatic chief who had spearheaded the Islamic revolution a decade earlier.
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Whereas Khomeini was the ideological pressure behind the revolution that ended the rule of the Pahlavi monarchy, it was Khamenei who formed the army and paramilitary equipment that type each Iran’s defence towards its enemies, and supply it with affect properly past its borders.
Earlier than turning into supreme chief, he had led Iran as president via a bloody warfare with Iraq within the Nineteen Eighties. The grinding battle, coupled with a way of isolation amongst many Iranians as Western international locations backed Iraqi chief Saddam Hussein, deepened Khamenei’s mistrust of the West usually and the USA, specifically, analysts say.
That sentiment would underpin his decades-long rule and cement the concept that Iran should stay in a continuing state of defence towards exterior and inside threats.
“Folks suppose [of Iran] as a theocracy, as a result of he [Khamenei] wears the turban and the language of the state is the language of faith, however in actuality, he was a wartime president that got here out of warfare with the idea that Iran is weak and in want of safety,” stated Vali Nasr, Iranian affairs professional and creator of Iran’s Grand Technique: A Political Historical past.
“That the US is hostile to Iran; and that the revolution, the Islamic republic and nationalism, are usually not separated” and that so, they must be protected.
Underneath this imaginative and prescient, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) developed from a paramilitary pressure into a strong safety, political and financial establishment that grew to become central to broader Iran’s affect throughout the area.
Khamenei additionally promoted a “resistance financial system” to foster self-reliance within the face of punishing Western sanctions, maintained a robust scepticism of engagement with the West, and responded forcefully to critics who argued his give attention to defence was blocking much-needed reforms.
However his rule was significantly examined through the years, together with in 2009, when protesters who took to the streets over what they claimed was a rigged presidential election had been met with a brutal crackdown, and in 2022 over girls’s rights.
Presumably the largest problem to his rule got here in January when protests triggered by financial hardship morphed into nationwide upheaval, with many protesters straight calling for the overthrow of the Islamic republic.
The authorities’ response led to some of the violent confrontations because the nation’s 1979 revolution.
Critics noticed him as being too out-of-touch with a younger inhabitants searching for reforms and financial enchancment over isolationism and without end shadow wars with the US and Israel.
“Iranians paid too excessive a value for this diploma of insistence on nationwide independence – within the course of, he misplaced the Iranian inhabitants as a result of they now not believed within the knowledge of this independence,” Nasr stated.
Born in 1939 within the holy Shia metropolis of Mashhad in northeast Iran, Khamenei was the son of a famend Muslim chief and ethnic Azerbaijani from neighbouring Iraq.
The household first settled in Tabriz in northwestern Iran earlier than shifting to Mashhad, a spot favoured by non secular pilgrims, the place Khamenei’s father led an Azerbaijani mosque.
Khamenei has described his mom, Khadijeh Mirdamadi, as an avid Quran and ebook reader who instilled in her son a love of literature and poetry, and later supported her son as he joined the motion towards the Pahlavi dynasty’s rule.
Khamenei began his research at age 4, studying the Quran, and accomplished his main training on the first Islamic faculty in Mashhad.
He didn’t end highschool, as an alternative attending theology faculties and studying from famend Islamic students of the time, like his father, and Sheikh Hashem Ghazvini. Within the following years, he continued his research at extra prestigious Shia centres for larger training in Najaf and Qom.
In Qom, he discovered from and have become near various different well-known Muslim students, together with Ayatollah Khomeini, who was common amongst younger seminarians for his defiance of the shah.
Khamenei taught jurisprudence programs and public theology interpretation courses, which additionally allowed him to achieve entry to a rising viewers, particularly younger college students who had been starting to turn into disillusioned with the monarchy.
The monarchy on the time had been reinstated to absolute energy following an MI6 and CIA-orchestrated coup in 1953, which ousted democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh after he tried to nationalise the Iranian oil trade.
As a political activist, Khamenei was repeatedly arrested by the shah’s secret police (SAVAK) and sentenced to exile within the distant metropolis of Iranshahr in southeastern Iran, however returned to participate within the 1978 protests that led to the tip of the Pahlavi rule.
As soon as the monarchy had been deposed, Khamenei grew to become a key determine in establishing the brand new Iran. He served briefly as minister of defence in 1980 and later because the supervisor of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq warfare. A fiery orator, he additionally secured the influential put up of Tehran’s Friday prayer chief.
1981 proved a momentous yr for Khamenei. He misplaced using his proper arm after narrowly escaping an assassination try by the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an opposition group that had began an armed rebellion towards the newly established Iranian theocracy after falling out with Khomeini.
In the identical yr, Khamenei received the presidency, turning into Iran’s first clerical president.
In 1989, the demise of Khomeini was a turning level for the Islamic republic. Earlier than his demise, Khomeini had sidelined his long-time designated inheritor, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, as a result of latter’s criticism of the mass execution of prisoners in 1988.
A council that had been set as much as revise the structure appointed Khamenei as an alternative. To make that occur, the council needed to loosen the {qualifications} required to carry the nation’s prime job. Khamenei didn’t have the title of the hojatoleslam – a high-ranking Shia clerical title.
“I consider I don’t deserve this place; maybe you and I do know this. This could be symbolic management, not actual management,” Khamenei stated on the time.
However his management has been something however symbolic.
Khamenei’s early tenure as ayatollah was outlined by efforts to rebuild a rustic shattered by eight years of warfare with Iraq. Greater than 1,000,000 individuals had been killed within the battle, and the financial system was left in ruins.
The battle had additionally fostered resentment in the direction of the worldwide neighborhood over its perceived inaction following Iraq’s use of chemical weapons towards Iranian forces and civilians. Whereas nonetheless president, Khamenei would ceaselessly go to the entrance strains, incomes the loyalty of the IRGC and gaining a firsthand understanding of the realities of warfare.
“He’s the chief whose formation was within the warfare with Iraq – that framed his outlook on home and international politics. As soon as he grew to become the supreme chief, he centered on constructing the army and paramilitary equipment for a siege, for fixed resistance,” stated Narges Bajoghli, an affiliate professor of anthropology and Center East research at John Hopkins College.
However the temper started to vary within the Nineties. The nation was in determined want of funding, whereas the revolutionary fervour had begun to chill considerably. Some, exhausted by the warfare, had been desperate to see Iran return to the worldwide fold.
That sentiment translated right into a landslide election victory for reformist Mohammad Khatami in 1997, an advocate for rapprochement with the West and promoter of a “dialogue amongst civilisations”.
“Khamanei by no means had a pure base for himself in comparison with Khomeini,” stated Bajoghli, additionally the creator of Iran Framed.
“So he put numerous funding in redoing the training and coaching for the younger generations [within the paramilitary system] that might then discover their means up.”
That meant giving the IRGC a free hand to construct a community of companies that might enable them to dominate Iran’s financial system whereas additionally intensifying coaching programmes, particularly for youthful members of its paramilitary volunteer pressure, the Basij.
Whereas it was a restricted part of society, it was one that might develop in keeping with Khamenei’s posture of perpetual resistance towards the West and one which was given nice assets. Extra importantly, Bajoghli stated, they had been prepared to battle and die.
These new ranks throughout the paramilitary pressure had been those referred to as upon to suppress the nationwide protests that erupted after the disputed presidential election victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a staunch opponent of the West, in 2009.
By then, a brand new technology of Iranians – born after 1979 – had been much less attuned to the anti-imperialist, anti-colonial narrative that had impressed their dad and mom’ revolution.
In what was then thought-about the strongest problem to Khamenei’s management, a whole lot of 1000’s of protesters took to the streets underneath what the media dubbed the Inexperienced Motion to contest the election outcomes and categorical assist for the defeated reformist candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Whereas protesters stated the elections had been rigged for Ahmadinejad to win, Khamenei endorsed the outcomes. Hundreds had been arrested and dozens had been killed, based on Amnesty Worldwide.
The Iranian management accused Western international locations of stoking the unrest to topple the non secular institution. “You [the West] must be held accountable to your actions,” Ahmadinejad stated.
“The Iranian nation would … slap these with ailing intentions so arduous that they might lose their means dwelling.”
‘Neither peace nor warfare’
Khamenei was additionally a pragmatist. And he believed the battle towards the West needed to be fought with totally different methods: resisting but additionally negotiating, if that was mandatory, observers stated.
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In 2015, the nation was struggling underneath crippling worldwide sanctions as a result of its nuclear programme. To keep up home stability and increase legitimacy, Khamenei recognised the necessity to ease financial strain.
So he greenlit then-President Hassan Rouhani’s negotiations with the West that led to the 2015 Joint Complete Plan of Motion (JCPOA). The landmark deal, signed by Iran and world powers, was designed to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme in change for sanctions reduction.
“It was a second of pragmatism – generally defending the state requires compromises,” Nasr stated. “Khamenei favoured a coverage of neither peace nor warfare with the US. He believed that Iran wanted to pursue its independence towards the US, which he believed is inherently towards Iran.” Inside this angle, “the nuclear deal was not normalisation [with the US] however a slender arms management deal just like the one the US did with the Soviets,” Nasr stated.
However three years after that accord was signed, President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the settlement, bringing the rapprochement to an finish.
As Washington imposed a brand new set of sanctions on Iran, Khamenei returned to a extra aggressive posture, ruling out negotiations with the US and backing a gradual breach of the deal. Over the next years, Iran resumed the enrichment of uranium to 60 %, the extent at which it turns into faster to transform to 90 % weapons-grade uranium.
Iran has insisted — and continues to insist — that its nuclear programme is solely civilian in nature. In 2003, Khamenei issued a fatwa prohibiting the manufacture, use and storage of nuclear weapons.
With Western sanctions biting and inflation rising, protests erupted throughout Iran in 2019 following the federal government’s choice to hike petrol costs.
Safety forces had been accused of violently cracking down on demonstrations the place, based on Amnesty Worldwide, greater than 100 individuals had been killed. Khamenei dismissed the protesters as “thugs” and accused counterrevolutionaries and international enemies of fuelling the unrest.
Amid inside turmoil and rising isolation, the presidential elections noticed the victory of Ebrahim Raisi – a senior prosecutor who had drawn criticism for his hyperlinks with the mass executions of the late 80s – and the bottom turnout within the Islamic republic’s historical past.
With an in depth ally equivalent to Raisi on the presidency, Khamenei promoted the so-called “resistance financial system” counting on Iran’s inside capabilities whereas additionally pivoting its enterprise in the direction of the East – an method that didn’t yield tangible outcomes.
The 2022 nationwide protests over Mahsa Amini’s demise in police custody for allegedly violating the necessary hijab legislation marked one other main problem for Khamenei. The ayatollah drew criticism because the particular person answerable for social restrictions imposed on the inhabitants and the safety forces’ brutal crackdown on the following demonstrations.
Greater than 500 individuals had been killed, based on Amnesty Worldwide.
Once more, Khamenei noticed the entire affair as a nationwide safety matter. He blamed Western and regional adversaries for fomenting the unrest, arguing that the protests weren’t concerning the demise of Amini or the carrying of the hijab however moderately the results of international intervention.
“It’s about Islamic Iran’s independence, resistance, power and energy,” he stated. “That’s what that is about.”
Independence and energy, in Khamenei’s view, had been additionally required past the nation’s borders to keep up a “ahead defence” that might deter potential aggression or overreach by adversaries, together with the US and Israel.
That translated into weaving an internet of proxy relations and switch of weapons data and assets to a constellation of allies exterior Iran – the so-called “axis of resistance”, Khamenei’s most impactful strategic challenge.
The grasp architect of this technique was Qassem Soleimani, a staunch Khamenei supporter and commander of Iran’s Quds forces, the elite wing of the IRGC accountable primarily for its international operations. Soleimani was assassinated by the US in 2020.
The crown jewels of the alliance had been Hezbollah in Lebanon, former President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Hamas in Palestine, the Houthis in Yemen, and armed teams in Iraq.
However the axis started unravelling following Hamas’s assault in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel then unleashed a genocidal warfare on Gaza, which has killed greater than 70,000 individuals and turned many of the enclave into rubble. Many senior Hamas leaders have been killed within the warfare.
Israel additionally attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing many figures in its senior management, together with secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah.
Then got here the overthrow of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024 by insurgent forces. The hall that Iran had been utilizing to replenish Hezbollah — via Syria — ceased to be viable.
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With Iran’s allies weakened, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had been pushing for a strike on Iran’s nuclear programme for many years, seized the second.
On June 13, 2025, the Israeli military – with the data of the US – attacked Iran, killing dozens of its senior commanders and prime nuclear scientists, placing a number of nuclear websites and civilian and army infrastructure.
Israel maintained its assault was to stop Iran from producing a nuclear weapon, regardless of separate assessments by the US intelligence and the Worldwide Atomic Power Company that Tehran was not within the strategy of doing that.
And that assault occurred simply as Tehran was engaged in negotiations with Washington to achieve an settlement about its nuclear programme.
Iran responded with a barrage of missiles placing Tel Aviv. A full-blown warfare ensued for almost two weeks, culminating with the US dropping bunker busters on three key nuclear amenities.
That had little impact. “Clever individuals who know Iran and its historical past would by no means converse to this nation in threatening language as a result of the Iranian nation won’t give up, and the Individuals ought to know that any US army intervention will undoubtedly trigger irreparable injury,” Khamenei snapped again.
To some, Khamenei’s steadfastness, which as soon as attracted criticism for his state-of-siege mentality, took a distinct that means following the 12-day warfare with Israel. Iranians defied calls by Israel to revolt towards the Islamic republic.
However the rally across the flag impact didn’t final lengthy.
Crippling sanctions weighed closely on the nation’s financial system. In late December, protests over a foreign money collapse morphed right into a nationwide upheaval calling for the tip of Khamenei’s rule. That led to essentially the most brutal crackdown in a long time.
Iranian authorities stated greater than 3,000 individuals had been killed, however a US-based human rights group put that tally at greater than 7,000. Al Jazeera is unable to independently confirm these figures.
Following the upheaval, the nation was at a crossroads. Whereas throughout earlier rounds of protests the state was capable of both dispense some subsidies or loosen up social restrictions, this time it had few choices for addressing the underlying financial grievances that sparked the demonstrations. Iran wanted to make powerful compromises to win sanctions reduction and repair the financial system – or face additional upheaval, consultants stated.
That led to new rounds of negotiations between the US and Iran to restrict Tehran’s nuclear actions in change for sanctions reduction. Regardless of statements of “progress”, a number of rounds of talks within the United Arab Emirates and in Geneva failed to achieve any breakthrough.
The US stated it needed Iran to dismantle its nuclear infrastructure completely, restrict its arsenal of ballistic missiles and cease supporting regional allies. Whereas Tehran has proven flexibility about discussing limitations on the enrichment of uranium for civilian use, it has to date handled missiles and proxies as non-negotiables.
In the meantime, the US amassed its largest army arsenal within the area because the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
On February 28, Trump introduced that the US had begun a “main fight operation” in Iran. In his speech, the American president made it clear that the US was searching for regime change.
“The hour of your freedom is at hand,” Trump stated, chatting with the Iranian individuals on the finish of his Saturday morning tackle. “Once we are completed, take over your authorities. It is going to be yours to take. It will in all probability be your solely likelihood for generations.”
He stated he was “prepared to do” what no earlier American president had performed.
“So let’s have a look at the way you reply”.