Who is Ayatollah Khamenei? Iran Supreme Leader
The United States and Israel have launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran, derailing talks over the country’s nuclear program and increasing concerns about measures to target the country’s security and leadership infrastructure. On Saturday, Iran’s capital Tehran was attacked, including facilities associated with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Ayatollah Khamenei (born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian theologian and politician who has been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, making him the second individual to hold the role.
He previously served as Iran’s president from 1981 to 1989. His 36-year tenure as supreme leader makes him the Middle East’s longest-serving head of state and the Iranian leader since Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Who is Ayatollah Khamenei?
Ali Hosseini Khamenei was born on April 19, 1939, in Mashhad to Javad Khamenei, an Alim and Mujtahid from Najaf, Iraq, and Khadijeh Mirdamadi (Hashem Mirdamadi’s daughter). Khamenei is the second of eight children. Two of his brothers are also clerics; Hadi Khamenei, his younger brother, is a newspaper editor and cleric.
His elder sister, Fatemeh Hosseini Khamenei, died in 2015 at the age of 89. His father was an ethnic Azerbaijani from Khamaneh. His mother was an ethnic Persian from Yazd. Some of his ancestors came from Tafresh, which is now in Markazi Province, and moved to Khamaneh near Tabriz.
Career
The 86-year-old Islamic scholar has been Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989, following the late founder, the charismatic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who returned from exile and led Iran’s 1979 revolution that deposed US ally and Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
He has ultimate authority over all branches of government, the military, and the judiciary, and he also serves as the country’s spiritual head. During his leadership, Khamenei has maintained a hostile relationship with the West, including harsh sanctions and many waves of domestic protests over the economy and human rights. He has described the United States as Iran’s “number one enemy,” with Israel following closely behind.
The devotion of two of Iran’s most powerful security institutions, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij paramilitary forces, with hundreds of thousands of volunteers, is critical to Khamenei’s authority.
Khamenei has long stated that Iran will never build a nuclear weapon and that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Neither US intelligence nor the UN nuclear watchdog has discovered any proof that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons, even though Israel and some members of the Trump administration have promoted this notion.
Officials from both countries have already threatened Khamenei. In June, following the 12-day war of US-Israeli assaults on Iran and Tehran’s reprisal against Israel, Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, stated that Khamenei “cannot continue to exist”. “A dictator like Khamenei who stands at the head of a state like Iran and has the horrible goal of destroying Israel – cannot continue to exist,” he told reporters.
The same month, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel had not ruled out attempting to assassinate Khamenei, which he claimed would “end” the long-running struggle between the US and Iran.
In the United States, President Donald Trump has made remarks that appear to threaten Khamenei. In an interview with ABC News earlier this month, Trump said the Iranian leader should be “very worried” as the US increased its military presence in the region.
In separate remarks, he stated that regime change in Iran would be “the best thing that could happen” and that “there are people” who could take over leadership, without providing any further details. While ordering attacks on Iran last year, Trump stated Khamenei would be an “easy target” if the US opted to go after him.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” tweeted Donald Trump. “He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.” Following the strikes, Trump vowed to “annihilate” Iran’s navy and missile facilities, urging Iranians to overthrow their government.
“When we’re done, take over your government.” “It will be yours to take,” Trump declared. “This is perhaps your only chance for generations.
Ayatollah Khamenei Wife
Khamenei is married to Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, and they have six children: four sons (Mostafa, Mojtaba, Masoud, and Meysam) and two daughters (Boshra and Hoda). One of his sons, Mojtaba, married the daughter of Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel.
Mostafa, his eldest son, married a daughter of Azizollah Khoshvaght. Another son, Masoud, married Mohsen Kharazi’s daughter. He has three brothers, including Mohammad and Hadi Khamenei. One of his four sisters, Badri Khamenei (wife of dissident Ali Tehrani), went into exile in the 1980s.
Ayatollah Khamenei Net Worth
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is thought to run a financial empire worth between $95 billion and $200 billion. This wealth is principally administered by the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) and other organisations, with considerable assets alleged to be kept in a number of countries, including the UAE and France.
Social Media
X: @khamenei_ir