Supreme Guide

Khamenei, the man who became ayatollah overnight

From his sudden appointment to the leadership of Iran to internal tensions and regional crises, Khamenei's political journey has shaped the Islamic Republic

28 February 2026

Il leader supremo iraniano Ali Khamenei saluta la folla durante la preghiera del venerdì, con un fucile automatico visibile dietro il podio, a Teheran, Iran. 17 luglio 1989 REUTERS/Fatih Saribas/Foto d'archivio

6' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

6' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The Supreme Guide of Iran, Ali Khamenei, was reportedly killed in the raids conducted by Israel and the United States on Tehran that razed his residence, as confirmed by Channel 12 and the New York Times. 'The Times of Israel' reports that the body would be recovered shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu said there were "many signs" that "Khamenei is dead".

Given his age and health problems, several times in the past there had been reports - which turned out to be fake - that Khamenei was hospitalised, sometimes on the verge of death, or fuelling speculation about his successor. According to CIA assessments, a radical figure linked to the Pasdaran will take his place.

Khomeini's student

Born on 19 April 1939 in Mashad, a holy city for Shiites, Khamenei began his education in a 'maktab', the then primary schools. The second son of Hojatoleslam Javad Khamenei then attended the seminary in Mashad, where he attended lectures by the great Ayatollah Milani. The young Khamenei left Iran at the age of 18 to make a pilgrimage to Najaf, an Iraqi city that played an important role in the Supreme Guide's life. The following year he moved to Qom, the 'Vatican' of the Shia, where until 1964 he followed the teachings of some of the most famous ayatollahs of the time, including Ayatollah Borujerdi and Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. "As far as political and revolutionary ideas and Islamic jurisprudence are concerned, I am certainly a disciple of Imam Khomeini," said Khamenei, who also joined the ranks of revolutionaries opposing the Shah's regime and its pro-American policies in the early 1960s. His 'marriage' to the Khomeinist cause cost him a night in jail in May 1963, when the leader of the revolution entrusted him with the mission of carrying a secret message to Ayatollah Milani. A month later he was again arrested and imprisoned for anti-government activities.

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The Hostage Crisis

During those years, Khamenei remained in close contact with Khomeini, at that time in exile first in Iraq and then in France, of whom he became a trusted advisor. Immediately after the latter's return to Tehran in 1979, he was appointed a member of the Council of the Revolution. After its dissolution, he became Deputy Minister of Defence and Khomeini's personal representative in the Supreme Defence Council. For a short time, he commanded the Guardians of the Revolution. A hawk in foreign policy, he was one of the key negotiators in the so-called hostage crisis. One of the founding members of the Islamic Republican Party (IRP), in 1981, while he was giving a speech in a Tehran mosque, a bomb exploded, causing him to lose the use of his right arm. The attack was later claimed by the People's Mojahedin. In that year he was elected deputy and then president, a position he held for two terms in a row until 1989, when on Khomeini's death he was elected Rahbar by the Assembly of Experts, taking advantage of the rupture between the founder of the Islamic Republic and the one who appeared to be the natural candidate for his succession, Ayatollah Montazeri. In reality, Khamenei did not have the qualifications to hold the office. The Supreme Guide, in fact, had to be recognised as 'marja-e taqlid', i.e. a source of imitation. But faced with the vacuum created by Khomeini's death, the Constitution was amended to appoint a new Rahbar. Overnight he was also 'promoted' from hojatoleslam to ayatollah.

contrary to relaxation

Under his leadership, Iran faced very difficult times. The first obstacle for the Supreme Guide was the double mandate of President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist pushing for détente with the West, a line that Khamenei saw as smoke and mirrors. Rahbar basically succeeded in derailing the Khatami presidency by blocking many of his reforms aimed at opening up the country both socially and politically. It was however with his successor, the ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, considered by many to be his protégé, that the Islamic Republic was on the verge of collapse. In fact, the disputed re-election of the former mayor of Tehran in 2009 brought the country to the brink of chaos, with thousands of protesters killed in the Green Wave repression. Faced with the most serious street demonstrations since the revolution, Khamenei used an iron fist.

Thousands of dissidents, including the two opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, were arrested. Ahmadinejad's presidency was also characterised by fierce criticism of the government for its handling of the economy and certain foreign policy decisions, and by the end of his term the rift between the then president and Khamenei became evident. In 2013 it was time again for a reformist to preside over Iran. Hassan Rohani's double term was marked by the agreement on the nuclear programme (Jcpoa) that led to the lifting of sanctions against the Islamic Republic in 2015. An understanding that Donald Trump then scuppered in 2018. Khamenei supported that historic agreement with world powers, but opposed any attempt by Rohani to expand civil liberties.

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Protests and economic crisis

The US abandonment of the Jcpoa plunged Iran into a new economic crisis, triggering a new wave of anti-government protests in 2019, during which protesters chanted the slogan 'death to the dictator' - a reference to the Leader. The US 'betrayal' strengthened the anti-Western sentiment, which blossomed into outright hatred for the US, that has always dominated Khamenei's populist rhetoric throughout his years in power. "I said it from day one: America is not to be trusted," he commented immediately after Trump's move. But if there is one 'enemy' that Khamenei has never ceased to target in all his public speeches it has been Israel. The Supreme Leader, who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust, threatened countless times to wipe the Jewish state, described as 'a cancer', off the map. Another dramatic moment that shook the foundations of the Islamic Republic under Khamenei was the killing of his close ally and personal friend Qassem Soleimani.

The then head of the Pasdaran's elite Quds Force was assassinated in a US drone raid in Baghdad in January 2020. Khamenei vowed 'revenge' and ordered ballistic missiles to be fired at two Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation. A few days after Soleimani's death, Iran was shaken by another incident. The shooting down by mistake of a Ukrainian plane mistaken for an enemy aircraft by the anti-aircraft guns of the Guardians of the Revolution. The heavy death toll of 176 triggered anger and renewed anti-government protests.

The turning point of the war in Gaza

A few months later, Iran, like the rest of the world, was hit by the pandemic. It was an ordeal for the country, which among those in the Middle East paid the highest price in terms of human lives. The ayatollah initially played down the threat of the coronavirus, claiming it was a scare tactic. "It is a problem that will pass. It is nothing extraordinary,' he said. Over the long course of his rule over Iran, Khamenei built an elaborate security architecture based on the 'Axis of Resistance': a network of alliances and militias in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen designed to project Iranian influence and contain Israel and the United States. The war in Gaza, however, marked a turning point. During the conflict, several Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi leaders and commanders were killed in targeted operations, weakening a structure that had been Tehran's main regional deterrence tool for years. That network, designed to surround Israel and guarantee strategic depth to the Islamic Republic, became progressively more and more fragile under military and political pressure, until the 'coup de grace' represented by the fall of Assad in Damascus. At the same time, on the domestic front, Khamenei had to deal with growing discontent. The protests that exploded at the end of December in several Iranian cities, harshly repressed by the authorities with a toll - according to some sources - of tens of thousands of dead, have highlighted yet another deep rift between the establishment and society.