Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

• Born: July 17, 1939
• Place of Birth: Mashhad, Iran

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei became Iran's supreme leader and spiritual authority in 1989, succeeding Ayatollah Khomeini, an infamous figure in the West because of his part in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. As supreme leader, Khamenei had the power to approve the nation's judiciary and military leaders and to appoint a Guardian Council that approves all legislation and oversees elections. In addition, the supreme leader has significant control over the Iranian media. An uncompromising conservative, Khamenei refused to open a formal diplomatic dialogue with the United States, though back-channel negotiations between the two countries do occur. Khamenei sought to suppress reform efforts by parliamentarians and academics and worked to solidify his power, but he also faced significant protests. He was a strong advocate for Iran's right to pursue nuclear power, despite the international community's fears of Iran developing a nuclear weapons program.

Early Life

Seyed (also spelled Sayyed or Sayyid) Ali Khamenei was born on or around July 17, 1939, in the northern town of Mashhad in Iran's Khorasan Province. Mashhad is often called Iran's holiest city because it is home to an important Shiite shrine. Khamenei's father was an Islamic scholar, and the family lived in a one-room home. As the son of a cleric, Khamenei received religious instruction in Mashhad before being sent to study theology in Najaf in 1958 and later in Qom, the seat of Iran's theological community.

By 1963, Khamenei was already politically active and was arrested on several occasions due to participation in protests against Iran's ruling Shah (or monarch), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The Shah ruled Iran during the 1960s and 1970s, a time of significant economic expansion in the country. At the same time, the Shah was working towards consolidating power and silencing political opposition.

White Revolution & Islamic Resurgence

In 1963, the Shah declared the "White Revolution," which ushered in a time of increased women's rights, privatization of industry, and other social reforms. The Shah initiated a massive land redistribution program that benefited 2.5 million Iranians, and he used the country's oil profits to modernize the nation's infrastructure. Many clerics voiced their concerns about this modernization process, which they viewed as anti-Islamic and pro-Western. Additionally, they were growing concerned as the Shah marginalized the collective power of the clerics and was seen to be shifting toward a secular judicial system. As Khamenei remained active against the Shah's rapid reforms, his friend and colleague Ayatollah Khomeini was exiled to Turkey for his harsh criticisms of the Shah in 1964. However, he remained in close contact with Khamenei and other conservatives.

The Shah's reform initiatives started to come under threat in the late 1970s, as his land redistribution program resulted in a high rate of farm closures for farmers who were not used to running their own affairs. This is likely because they had spent previous years in a state of serfdom to landowners. In 1978, religious students and others initiated a wave of protests that would eventually bring down the government. As more and more young people took to the streets, the Shah ordered a military crackdown that resulted in even more civil unrest.

Eventually, the Shah was forced to flee Iran for Egypt, and he appointed Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar to run the country in his absence. However, the strength and popularity of Khomeini and his clerics was too strong for the government to hold back, and by April 1979, the Iranian Revolution (or Islamic Revolution) was complete. Khomeini then returned from exile and was installed as the supreme leader of Iran.

Khamenei had been a key supporter of Khomeini and was appointed by the supreme leader to the Revolutionary Council in 1979. From 1979–81, Khamenei was a member of Iran's parliament, the Majlis, and served as minister of defense. In June 1981, Khamenei was the victim of a terrorist attack at a press conference. A bomb hidden in a tape recorder exploded beside him. Khamenei survived but lost the use of his right arm as a result of the attack. Rising from that experience as a populist figure, he announced his intention to run for president after receiving support from Khomeini and others.

Presidency

From 1981–1989, Khamenei served as president of Iran. During his tenure as president, he oversaw the government during the Iran-Iraq War. Under his leadership, many dissidents were arrested, executed, and imprisoned. Although consumed with budgetary and defense matters, his presidency can mostly be described as a time of support for the clerical ruling elite.

In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini was faced with the problem of choosing a successor after a rift developed between him and his original choice for successor, Ayatollah Montazeri. At the time, Iran's constitution required the supreme leader to be a grand ayatollah—a religious cleric with a high degree of training. Although Khamenei was a cleric, he had never gone far enough in his studies to become a grand ayatollah. Faced with an Iranian leadership that lacked the experience and ability to manage a country, Khomeini revised the constitution to require the supreme leader to merely be an expert on Islamic law and have experience as a government leader. This cleared the path for Khamenei to assume the post, and in June 1989, the Assembly of Experts, the body charged with electing the supreme leader, approved Khamenei's candidacy.

While Khamenei's rise to power was sharply criticized by the clerics in the holy city of Qom, the politicians in Tehran rallied around Khamenei, easing his transition to supreme leader. In his acceptance speech, the new leader was humble and vowed to follow the course laid out for him by his predecessor.

Supreme Leader

A common misconception in the West is that Iran is a totalitarian regime that is ruled with an iron fist. While it is true that Iran's population does not have the freedoms that Western nations have, the ability of Iran's ruling elite to accomplish their goals is not as simple as it may seem. As supreme leader, Khamenei was unparalleled in his political and economic powers in the nation, but he still had to court and appease other members of the government. While all major decisions require the approval of the supreme leader, Khamenei's powers to make declarations without the agreement of the other government bodies, such as the Guardian Council, were constrained. Thus, Khamenei had to still woo his detractors and extract loyalties from the political elite.

As the country's leader, Khamenei's policies were sometimes as difficult for an outsider to understand as the country's power structure and politics. For example, though a very religious man, he supported some scientific practices that have faced religious opposition even in some Western countries, including non-embryonic stem cell research and research on animal cloning. Under Khamenei's leadership, Iran embarked on a wide-ranging scientific program with research into nanotechnology, biotechnology, microelectronics, communications and information technology, new energies, stem cells, aerospace, and nuclear science.

In his foreign policy, Khamenei routinely derided the concept of negotiating and maintaining open relations with Western powers, particularly the US, while at other times, he showed openness to the idea. One consistent point of contention, however, was Iran's pursuit of nuclear power. Most of the world became convinced that the Iranian regime sought to create a nuclear weapon. This was backed up by the fact that Iran hid its nuclear program from the international community for years. Furthermore, in 2008, Iran tested six missiles that many analysts believed would only be effective as nuclear weapons. Tensions were further exacerbated by the fact that Iran attained the ability to enrich uranium. Enriched uranium can be used in the production of both nuclear power and the production of nuclear weapons.

Despite suspicions, Khamenei routinely stood up for Iran's nuclear rights and declared that Iran was not interested in armed conflict with any nation. In addition, Iran's supreme leader issued several declarations, including a religious edict called a "fatwa," that nuclear weapons are un-Islamic and are contrary to Muslim beliefs.

Some have theorized that Khamenei's conciliatory nature was aimed at tempering comments made by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, criticizing the government of Israel. Less than a year after Khamenei's official pronouncement against nuclear weapons, clerics close to President Ahmadinejad issued their own fatwa that the acquisition of nuclear weapons would be justified in a world where Iran's enemies possess these weapons, a comment interpreted to be pointed at the US and Israel.

Khamenei, like his predecessor, remained fiercely independent and unwilling to retreat from his political views. The possibility of war with the US frequently loomed over negotiations. Khamenei stated that if Iran were attacked, it would disrupt oil shipments that come through the Persian Gulf by firing missiles at ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route for Middle Eastern oil exports. In August 2008, Iran allowed a deadline to stop enriching uranium for nuclear weapons to pass and issued further statements of defiance. The US responded by calling for further sanctions against Iran. Although the administration of US President Barack Obama attempted to take a softer stance on the Iranian nuclear issue than that taken by the previous administration of President George W. Bush, the topic remained highly contentious.

2009 Presidential Election Following Iran's presidential election, which was held on June 12, 2009, widespread protests erupted throughout the country, led by demonstrators who felt the results were fraudulent. Initially, Khamenei reacted to this situation by declaring that the nation should support President Ahmadinejad, who appeared to have won the election with more than 60 percent of the vote. However, as protests surged and incidents of violence were reported, Khamenei asked that the Guardian Council consider the complaints of the opposition candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi and his supporters. The Guardian Council soon approved the election results, and Khamenei again called for the public to support Ahmadinejad.

In April 2010, Khamenei claimed that President Obama was threatening Iran with a nuclear attack, after releasing a new nuclear disarmament agreement with Russia. He claimed the language of the agreement, which stated that the US retained the right to attack rogue countries, was an implication of an attack on Iran.

Khamenei's relationship with Ahmadinejad again showed strains in 2011 after the supreme leader vetoed the president's attempt to dismiss the minister of intelligence. Ahmadinejad stopped all presidential duties in protest, only returning under threat of impeachment, and then installed himself as minister of Iran's oil wealth without clerical approval. The power struggle between the two leaders led to questioning by the Majles in March 2012, and the following year Ahmadinejad finished his second term and was blocked from running for president again in 2017.

Khamenei also voiced occasional disagreements with the policies of President Hassan Rouhani, Ahmadinejad's successor, who was elected in 2013. Rouhani steered Iran toward somewhat warmer relations with the United States and other Western powers, most notably through negotiations to end Iran's nuclear programs in return for lifted sanctions. Khamenei criticized some elements of the Iran nuclear deal as it was worked out, suggesting it might compromise Iranian sovereignty. However, he approved the final deal in 2015.

Though the Iran nuclear deal was hailed by many as a major development in international affairs, ordinary Iranians saw few immediate benefits, especially after US President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 and immediately began questioning the agreement. After Rouhani was reelected in 2017, protests began to break out against both the president and Khamenei. These demonstrations gained steam after Trump announced in May 2018 that the US would withdraw from the nuclear deal and put economic sanctions back in place—despite Iranian compliance with the agreement. Khamenei sharply criticized Rouhani for his handling of the situation but did not support those who called for the president to step down.

Iran subsequently turned back to a combative stance on foreign relations and built up its military power. It technically remained in the nuclear agreement with other countries even after the US withdrew, but those other signatories could not provide the full extent of relief originally promised. Khamenei called for an aggressive response, including breaching the terms of the deal and refusing any renegotiation with the United States. Protests continued to flare up in Iran, however, particularly after the government announced raises in the cost of fuel in November 2019. Some called for the overthrow of the supreme leader. Khamenei condemned the demonstrators and ordered harsh security measures against them into 2020. Early that year, he also denounced the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani by US forces, suggesting Iran would strike back against US military targets.

On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which was supported by Iran, staged a coordinated major attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. Israel responded by besieging the Gaza Strip, the source of the October 7 attacks, and bombing Hamas targets in Gaza. Within a month, Israeli ground forces entered Gaza. Over the course of the next year, an estimated 42,000 people had been killed by the fighting in Gaza.

Irael and its Western allies had long maintained that Khamenei and Iran provided money and support for Hamas in its actions against Isarel. In April, an Israeli warplane bombed the Iranian embassy in Syria, prompting Iran to fire a barrage of missiles at Israel weeks later. On October 1, 2024, after a series of assassinations of Iranian-backed Palestinian militant leaders, Iran launched another missile attack on Israel. A few days later, Khamenei spoke out publicly, praising the missile barrage against Israel and calling the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks a legitimate action by the Palestinian people.

Bibliography

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Vahdat, Amir. “Iranian Supreme Leader Praises Missile Attack on Israel, Saying Iran Will Do It Again If Necessary." Associated Press, 4 Oct. 2024, apnews.com/article/iran-israel-missile-strike-khamenei-2bce5479abfdac5fd953d5547d04941c.  Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.