Ali Khamenei
The second Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic (b. 1939), in office since 1989 after Khomeini, and previously president (1981–1989).
Read in context →Biography
Ali Hosseini Khamenei (b. 1939) studied in the seminaries of Mashhad and Qom — where he attended Khomeini's classes — and became active in opposition to the Shah, for which he was repeatedly arrested and exiled. After the revolution he held senior posts, survived a 1981 assassination attempt, and served as Iran's third president from 1981 to 1989, covering most of the Iran–Iraq War. Following Khomeini's death, the Assembly of Experts elevated him to Supreme Leader in June 1989 (reconfirmed in August after a constitutional amendment removed the marjaʿ requirement), and for over three decades he was the central figure of the Iranian state, overseeing security, foreign policy, and the nuclear program — a deeply polarizing figure viewed by supporters as guardian of the revolution and by critics as the head of an authoritarian system. According to Iranian state media and international outlets, Khamenei was killed in an Israeli airstrike on 28 February 2026 during the 2026 war (his death confirmed 1 March), and his son Mojtaba Khamenei was named as the succeeding Supreme Leader in March 2026; these reports are recent and sensitive and should be presented with attribution rather than as settled fact.
Quotes & narrations
«A resistance economy is the country's path to salvation; we must rely on domestic capability.»
Also appears in
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Ali Khamenei"
- Al Jazeera, "Iran names Mojtaba Khamenei as new supreme leader" (March 2026)
- RAND Commentary, "Who—or What—Will Replace Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei?" (March 2026)