At 86, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stands as both the unyielding guardian of Iran’s Islamic revolution and the enduring symbol of its defiance, a legacy his adversaries seem determined to shatter. As the region teeters on the brink of wider conflict, he remains the central force shaping Iran’s trajectory at one of its most perilous moments since 1979.Since becoming Supreme Leader in 1989, Khamenei has outlasted US presidents, Israeli threats, foreign wars, crushing sanctions, political unrest, and waves of internal dissent. Yet today, both he and the Republic he leads stand at a crossroads. Iran faces unprecedented external pressure, as it mounts an aggressive counterstrategy striking deep inside Israeli territory and reinforcing its posture of resistance.Khamenei’s grip on Iran’s political system is unrivaled. As Supreme Leader, he is commander-in-chief of the armed forces and final arbiter of the judiciary, legislature, and executive. As Vali-ye Faqih, the guardian jurist, he also holds the highest religious authority in the Shiite establishment. But the enormous power is shadowed by immense responsibility, especially in a climate of regional volatility.Born in 1939 in Mashhad to a modest clerical family, Khamenei pursued religious studies in the seminaries of Qom, where he came under the influence of cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. By the 1960s, he was deeply embedded in the underground movement opposing the Shah, arrested multiple times by the SAVAK security forces. He translated revolutionary Islamist texts into Farsi, embraced anti-colonial ideologies, and sought to synthesise Islamic thought with contemporary political theories.
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