Iran's supreme leader dead at 86: Who was Ali Khamenei?

DW News · Mar 1, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Small gestures sometimes say a lot: In his appearances since 2021, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei increasingly referred to himself when talking about the state. In late 2023, he even said that God had spoken through him. He recalled how more than 20 years ago, he had started to share an inspiring message with the Revolutionary Guard officers who were accompanying him. "The almighty God has spoken! It was, in fact, my tongue, but the words were God's; it was a very extraordinary gathering," Khamenei claimed, adding: "It had a significant impact." Iran's supreme political and religious leader was apparently convinced that he was the "representative of God on Earth." Khamenei assumed this title in 1989 after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, thus making himself the Middle East nation's head of state for life. Born in 1939 in Mashhad, a holy city for Shiites in northeastern Iran, Khamenei had the final say in all state affairs for more than three decades. He did not like people asking questions about his decisions. He never gave interviews. In 2018, a student was sentenced to two years in prison for "insulting the religious leader" after he asked Khamenei in front of cameras whether the supreme leader could be asked questions at all.The Shah's regime was toppled by the Islamic Revolution in 1979, paving the way for Khamanei's predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah KhomeiniImage: United Press International/picture alliance Opposing the Shah and rise after 1979 Khamenei viewed himself as a poet and literary critic until his death. He wrote poetry in his youth. Before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, he had been imprisoned several times for opposing the then-ruling Shah. As a pipe-smoking literary figure, the young religious scholar made a rather meek impression among regime-critical intellectuals. After the toppling of the monarchy and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei quickly rose through the ranks of the theocracy. He was articulate and became a Friday preacher in Tehran, and survived an attempted assassination in 1981 by a resistance group known as the People's Mujahideen, though the attack left his right hand paralyzed. Khamenei learned to write with his left hand. Later, he rose to become a member of the inner leadership circle of the religious establishment. He held the office of president from 1981 to 1989, a period that also saw the Iraq-Iran Gulf War (1980-87), which resulted in heavy losses for both sides.As the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei had the final say in the Iranian governmentImage: picture alliance/ASSOCIATED PRESS Khamenei's pillar of strength He once said that he knew how it felt to live under a dictator and to be subjected to terror. He was referring to the time under the Shah, while ignoring the massive human rights violations that happened under his own leadership. Khamenei's main support base was the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a paramilitary organization established in 1979 to "protect the revolution." Under his watch, the IRGC expanded greatly to become what many regard as the nation's dominant military force, with its own army, navy and air force as well as its own intelligence wing and special units for foreign missions. The IRGC, which also controls parts of Iran's oil and gas industry through its construction group Khatam al-Anbiya, is a state within a state. The paramilitary force enables the supreme leader to impose his will, bypassing the president and parliament.US is Iran's 'number one enemy' Khamenei maintained a modest lifestyle throughout his life, even though he let those around him benefit from the nation's corrupt economic system. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, his closest advisers had promised to develop Iranian vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2. The project gobbled up about $1 billion (€910 million) but failed to produce a vaccine. In the eyes of millions of Iranians who lost loved ones during the pandemic, Khamenei was responsible for the disastrous management of the health crisis, and alleged that the coronavirus was a US biological weapon that had been genetically modified to attack Iran. Doubling down on this stance, he banned the Iranian government from importing vaccines developed in the US and Britain.Who are Iran's Revolutionary Guards? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Ayatollah Khamenei saw the Islamic Republic as the only true force of resistance against the "imperialist" West, and he dreamt of a powerful Shiite Iran in the Islamic world. His speeches were peppered with the term enemy, and the main enemy was always the United States. "America is the number one enemy of our nation," he always said. Iran's controversial nuclear and missile programs were founded under his leadership. The fact that he banned the production and use of nuclear weapons with a fatwa, an Islamic legal opinion, did not convince anyone on the international stage. He allowed negotiations on limiting Iran's nuclear program only after Iran had acquired enough experience and knowledge to be able to ramp up this program again at any time. The price for Khamenei's uncompromising stance was paid by his country and the people in the form of international isolation and stringent economic sanctions. Regular protests across Iran for greater political and social freedoms were brutally put down under his rule, as was unrest caused by economic misery. The repression of women also reached a new scale under Khamenei. Meanwhile, the emigration of young talent and academics hit an all-time high. All hope for change and lasting reforms within Iran's existing political system were dashed with him in control. As Khamenei grew older, he became more unforgiving and resentful; his trusted circle grew ever smaller. Nothing that displeased him should exist. His critics — and not just them — doubted whether he actually knew how unhappy people were with the political system, how much trust had been lost in the religious authorities, how economically and socially difficult people's lives were. He showed no interest in dialogue with the population. This article was originally written in German.