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Ali Khamenei

"Khamenei" redirects here. Not to be confused with his predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini.

Ali Hosseini Khamenei[c] (19 April 1939 – 28 February 2026) was an Iranian cleric and politician who served as the second Supreme Leader of Iran from 1989 until 2026 when he was killed during the 2026 US–Israeli strikes. Khamenei held the record for being the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East,[5] as well as the second-longest-serving Iranian leader of the last century, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[6]


Ali Khamenei
A photograph of Khamenei, 77, in 2017
Khamenei in 2017
2nd Supreme Leader of Iran
In office
4 June 1989[a] – 28 February 2026
President
See list
Prime MinisterMir-Hossein Mousavi
(until August 1989)
Preceded byRuhollah Khomeini
Succeeded byMojtaba Khamenei
3rd President of Iran
In office
9 October 1981 – 16 August 1989
Supreme Leader
  • Ruhollah Khomeini
  • Himself
Prime MinisterMir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded byMohammad-Ali Rajai
Succeeded byAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Other posts held
1st Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council
In office
7 February 1988 – 4 June 1989
Appointed byRuhollah Khomeini
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Member of the Assembly of Experts
In office
15 August 1983 – 4 June 1989
ConstituencyTehran Province
Majority2,800,353 (87.8%)[1]
Member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly
In office
28 May 1980 – 13 October 1981
ConstituencyTehran, Rey and Shemiranat
Majority1,405,976 (65.8%)[2]
Tehran's Friday Prayer Imam
In office
14 January 1980 – 28 February 2026
Appointed byRuhollah Khomeini
Interim Imams
See list
Preceded byHussein-Ali Montazeri
Succeeded byVacant
Personal details
Born
Ali Hosseini Khamenei

(1939-04-19)19 April 1939
Mashhad, Iran
Died28 February 2026(2026-02-28) (aged 86)
Tehran, Iran
Cause of deathAssassination by airstrike
Political party
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1964)​
Children6, including Mostafa, Mojtaba, and Masoud
MotherKhadijeh Mirdamadi
FatherJavad Khamenei
RelativesKhamenei family
Education
Websiteenglish.khamenei.ir
Military service
Branch/service
Years of service1979–1989[b]
CommandsFlag of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.svg Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces
Battles/wars
Personal
ReligionIslam
DenominationTwelver Shi'a
JurisprudenceJa'fari
CreedUsuli
Main interest(s)Uṣūl al-Fiqh, Tafsir[4]
Notable idea(s)Fatwa against nuclear weapons
Senior posting
Teacher
Ali Khamenei's voice

Khamenei speaking at the
Hussainiya of Lovers of Karbala in Sari
Recorded 14 October 1995
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Early life

Ali Hosseini Khamenei was born on 19 April 1939[4][7][8] in Mashhad. He was the second of eight children.[9][10][11] Two of his brothers are also Shia clerics.[12] His father was an ethnic Azerbaijani Turk from Khamaneh. His mother was an ethnic Persian from Yazd.[13][14][15][16][17]

Political career

Khamenei's career began as an opposition activist against Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. He was arrested six times before being exiled for three years by the Shah's regime. Khamenei was an important figure in the Iranian Revolution and after the revolution became successful, had many government roles in the Islamic republic.[18]

In the aftermath of the revolution, he was the target of an attempted assassination that paralysed his right arm. There had been continued assassination threats against Khamenei by Israel.[19]

Khamenei was the 3rd President of Iran from 1981 to 1989 during the Iran–Iraq War. During this time, he grew close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).[20] After the death and state funeral of Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, Khamenei was elected supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts.[21]

Supreme Leader

During his time as supreme leader, Khamenei supported Iran's nuclear program for civilian use while giving out a fatwa against the making of weapons of mass destruction. Khamenei supported economic privatization of state-owned businesses and, with oil and gas reserves, helped make Iran into an energy superpower.[22][23]

His foreign policy focused on Shia Islamism and supporting the Islamic Revolution. Khamenei played an important role in the creation of the IRGC. Under Khamenei, Iran supported the "Axis of Resistance" coalition in the Syrian civil war, War in Iraq, Yemeni civil war and the Gaza war, as well as Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian war.[24][25]

He was a well known critic of Israel and of Zionism. Khamenei supported the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He supported the idea of Israel's being destroyed. Under Khamenei, Iran had bad relations with the United States and took part in proxy wars with Israel and Saudi Arabia.[26]

In 2025 and 2026, problems with Israel and the United States grew into the Twelve-Day War and an ongoing conflict.[27][28]

Personal life

Khamenei was married to Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh. They had six children; four sons (Mostafa, Mojtaba, Masoud, and Meysam) and two daughters (Boshra and Hoda).[29] He had three brothers, including Mohammad Khamenei and Hadi Khamenei. One of his four sisters, Badri Khamenei, wife of dissident Ali Tehrani, fled into exile in the 1980s.[30]

Assassination

Main page: Assassination of Ali Khamenei

At 01:15 ET 28 February 2026, a series of large-scale US and Israeli missile strikes were carried out against targets in Iran.[31]

At 14:48 ET on the same day[d] Reuters published a report of an unnamed Israeli official who claimed Khamenei's dead body had been found.[32] Iranian state TV on 1 March 2026 confirmed Khamenei's death at around 5 am IRST. [e][34][33][35] Khamanei was reported to have been killed while in his office.[36]

Ali Khamenei Media

  • Childhood photo of Seyed Ali Khamenei

  • Khamenei in a protest in 1970 in Mashhad

  • Khamenei in the hospital after the assassination attempt

  • Khamenei shook hands with his left hand after an unsuccessful attempt on his life.

  • Khamenei as Tehran's Friday Prayer Imam in 1980

  • Khamenei (right) during the Iran–Iraq War

  • Khamenei reading the will of Ruhollah Khomeini in the Assembly of Experts

  • Khamenei at the Great Conference of Basij members at Azadi Stadium, October 2018

  • Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei and his claim of “speaking with God”.

  • Ali Khamenei voting in the 2017 Presidential election

  • Khamenei denied the Holocaust on multiple occasions.

Notes

  1. ↑ Acting until 6 August 1989
  2. ↑ As Supreme Leader, he remained active as Commander-in-chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces.
  3. ↑ /ˌxɑːməˈneɪ, -ˈniː, ˌkɑː-/ K(H)AH-mə-NAY, -⁠NEE; Persian: سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, romanized: Ali Hoseyni Xāmene'i, fa.
  4. ↑ The report was published 7:48 pm GMT
  5. ↑ Fars news agency reported the deaths of his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and grandchild after the strikes [33]

References

  1. ↑ چه کسی در نخستین انتخابات خبرگان اول شد؟ +جدول ("Who came first in the first election of the Experts?" ). 7 January 2014. http://www.mashreghnews.ir/news/520344. 
  2. ↑ Parliament members (in fa)Iranian Majlis. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  3. ↑ Raee, Sajjad. No Title (in fa). Negin-e Iran - Quarterly for Studies of Iran–Iraq War 7 (26) (Winter 2008). p. 9–24. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Velayati, Ali Akbar. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (in fa). Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  5. ↑ Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the longest-serving Head of State in the Middle EastUIIndia. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
  6. ↑ The Supreme Leader – The Iran Primer (2 October 2010). Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  7. ↑ taking look at the biography of Ali Khamenei. farsi.khamenei.ir (21 March 2014). Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  8. ↑ A photo of Identity document of Ayatollah Khamenei (in fa). farsi.khamenei.ir (1 February 2010). Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  9. ↑ The Office of the Leader, Seyyed Ali Khamenei. leader.ir. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
  10. ↑ Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. No Title (in fa). Retrieved 2026-03-02.
  11. ↑ Eternal Iran, in 1721; Patrick Clawson, 2005, ISBN 1-4039-6276-6, p. 5.
  12. ↑ بیوگرافی خواهر متوفی رهبر انقلاب (in fa). baharnews.ir (23 March 2015)Bahar News. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  13. ↑ Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East – Facts on File, Incorporated, 2009, p. 79
  14. ↑ Iran and the Caucasus - The Triumph of Pragmatism over Ideology – Centre for World Dialogue. worlddialogue.org. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  15. ↑ Azeris unhappy at being the butt of national jokes. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 25 May 2006. http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=26910. Retrieved 19 June 2009. 
  16. ↑ Iran at sea over Azerbaijan (28 September 2004)Asia Times. Retrieved 19 June 2009. Another ethnic Azeri is Rahim Safavi, the overall commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the most important military-security official in the country.
  17. ↑ Majd, Hooman (19 February 2009). Change Comes to Iran. The Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-02-19/change-comes-to-iran/. Retrieved 20 February 2009. "Ali Khamenei [...] while ethnically Turkic is also half Yazdi, but he seems not to have inherited the timidity gene from his mother". 
  18. ↑ History of Iran - Iran after the victory of 1979's RevolutionIran Chamber. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
  19. ↑ Kahlili, Reza. A Time to Betray - A Gripping True Spy Story of Betrayal, Fear, and Courage (2013)Threshold Editions. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-4391-8968-9.
  20. ↑ Khamenei Will Be Iran's Last Supreme Leader. Newsweek. 17 November 2009. http://www.newsweek.com/khamenei-will-be-irans-last-supreme-leader-76961. "referring to the enormous power Khamenei has given Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which, under Khamenei's direct control, has brutally repressed demonstrators, human rights activists, and opposition journalists". 
  21. ↑ Mattair, Thomas R.. Global Security Watch - Iran: A Reference Handbook (in en) (2015)Praeger. p. 156. ISBN 978-0275994839.
  22. ↑ Khamenei says Iran must go greenAl-Monitor. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  23. ↑ Louis Charbonneau and Parisa Hafezi. Iran pursues ballistic missile work, complicating nuclear talks (16 May 2014)Reuters.
  24. ↑ "Iran's supreme leader accuses Saudis of "genocide" in Yemen". The Guardian. 9 April 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/09/iranian-president-rouhani-yemen-ceasefire. 
  25. ↑ Kendall-Taylor, Andrea. The Axis of Upheaval - How America's Adversaries Are Uniting to Overturn the Global Order (23 April 2024)Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  26. ↑ "Iran’s Khamenei says US, Israel links behind ‘thousands killed’ in protests". Al Jazeera. 17 January 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/17/irans-khamenei-says-us-israel-links-behind-thousands-killed-in-protests. 
  27. ↑ "Update from David E. Sanger" (in en-US). The New York Times. 21 June 2025. ISSN 0362-4331 . https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/21/world/iran-israel-trump. Retrieved 22 June 2025. 
  28. ↑ Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on Iran (in en-GB). BBC News (21 June 2025). Retrieved 22 June 2025.
  29. ↑ آشنایی با فرزندان مقام معظم رهبری. seratnews.ir. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  30. ↑ "Niece of Iran's supreme leader calls on other countries to cut ties with regime" (in en). The Guardian. 27 November 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/27/niece-iran-supreme-leader-protests-farideh-moradkhani. Retrieved 30 November 2022. 
  31. ↑ Sanya Burgess. How Trump and Israel's killing of Khamenei played out - hour by hour (in en-US). The i Paper (2026-03-01). Retrieved 2026-03-02.
  32. ↑ Stewart, Phil; Hafezi, Parisa; Rose, Emily; Mills, Andrew (2026-02-28). "Iranian leader Khamenei killed in strikes, Israel says". Reuters: Yahoo. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/irans-supreme-leader-ali-khamenei-194449508.html. Retrieved 2026-02-28. 
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Jon Gambrell. Iranian state media say country's supreme leader is dead (in en). AP News (2026-02-28). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  34. ↑ Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, state media says (in en-GB). BBC (February 28, 2026). Retrieved February 28, 2026.
  35. ↑ Ayatollah Khamenei Death: Official Confirmation (in en). Islamic Info Center (2026-03-01). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  36. ↑ Guilfoil, Kyla (28 February 2026). Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, Iranian media confirms. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/live-blog/israel-iran-live-updates-rcna261099. Retrieved 1 March 2026. 

Other websites

Template:Supreme Leaders of Iran

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