Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Death of Iran鈥檚 leader marks turning point for Islamic Republic
| London
Defiant to the end, Iran鈥檚 supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed Saturday in the first targeted strikes of a broad American and Israeli military campaign designed to topple the Islamic Republic and destroy its nuclear and missile capabilities.
State media confirmed his death early Sunday morning: 鈥淭he leader of the Ummah, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Grand Ayatollah Imam Khamenei, has been martyred.鈥�
He 鈥渨as carrying out his assigned duties and was present at his workplace,鈥� the announcement read, within the fortified compound that served as both a command center of the Islamic Revolution and its leader鈥檚 private residence. Satellite images on Saturday showed extensive damage to the site from a missile strike. A period of 40 days of public mourning starts today.
Why We Wrote This
U.S. and Israeli airstrikes killed Iran鈥檚 supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Saturday. His death closes a nearly four-decade chapter in Iran marked by iron-fist rule and resistance to the U.S. and Israel.
In some Tehran neighborhoods, nighttime chants of 鈥淒eath to Khamenei!鈥� turned into celebrations at reports of his death, residents said. Some were even heard to call out, 鈥淭hank you, America!鈥�
There would have been celebrations, too, of a different kind, among the ayatollah鈥檚 most fervent followers. They would cherish the fact that their revolutionary Shiite leader 鈥� in the hallowed tradition of Shiite martyrdom 鈥� chose death over submission to an 鈥渦njust鈥� enemy. Tens of thousands of Iranian loyalists took to the streets in marches across Iran on Sunday in mourning for their leader - stirred all the more by distant disdain.
鈥淜hamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,鈥� President Donald Trump announced on social media Saturday. 鈥淭his is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.鈥�
Cleric and poet
Though one of the longest-tenured leaders in the world, Mr. Khamenei was also an enigma. Raised in a religious household, he was a middling cleric and poet. In his youth, he wore his clerical collar in the style of a liberal 鈥渃hic sheikh.鈥� As a leader, he was a hardliner with a pragmatist鈥檚 instinct for survival, a quiet man more comfortable gardening than holding court. He never traveled abroad, never held a press conference or agreed to an interview.
For much of his 37 years as supreme leader, the man who held the title in Iran of 鈥淕od鈥檚 deputy on Earth鈥� was driven by steadfast anti-American and anti-Israel animus 鈥� key pillars of Iran鈥檚 1979 Islamic Revolution. A six-time political prisoner in the 1970s, he survived torture and two assassination attempts involving explosives. Even at the end, embroiled in crises at home, his country鈥檚 regional influence weakened by repeated U.S. and Israeli blows, he had been in no mood to capitulate.
In recent weeks, as Mr. Trump built up the most powerful American military force deployed in two decades, he threatened regime change if Iran did not give up its strategic capabilities. Mr. Khamenei responded, mocking Mr. Trump鈥檚 threats of the power of an aircraft carrier: 鈥淢ore dangerous than that warship is the weapon that can send it to the bottom of the sea,鈥� he said.
When Mr. Trump demanded Iran鈥檚 鈥淯NCONDITIONAL SURRENDER鈥� last June, and warned that he knew where the 鈥渟o-called 鈥楽upreme Leader鈥欌�� was hiding, Mr. Khamenei told Iranians: 鈥淒o not allow the enemy to feel that you are afraid or weak. If the enemy senses fear from you, it will never let you go.鈥�
Indeed, this grizzled Shiite theologian spent a lifetime engaged in the Islamic Republic鈥檚 battle with arch-foes Israel and the U.S. Managing fear and mobilizing true believers to the revolutionary cause 鈥� enforcing its diktats by whatever means 鈥� was part of the job description. He kept reform-minded politicians and citizens alike in constant check.
At home, he presided over a ripening Islamic revolution that was failing and increasingly unpopular. He put down espisodes of public unrest by means of an increasingly repressive, ideological security apparatus. That violence culminated in January in a bloody crackdown that killed more than 7,000 citizens in just two nights 鈥� both shocking a weary nation and creating even more widespread discontent and anger.
Mr. Khamenei was only the second man to occupy the post of velayat-e faqih, or supreme jurisprudent, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He wielded power with cunning and dexterity. He built the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps into a widely feared and capable extension of his personal power. And despite an economy crushed by decades of sanctions, he turned the Islamic Republic into a self-sufficient military actor that 鈥� until October 2023, at least 鈥� successfully challenged far superior U.S. and Israeli military might through asymmetric means.
Iranians joked: mushak hast, pushak nist, 鈥渕issiles we have, diapers we don鈥檛.鈥�
And abroad, Mr. Khamenei presided over the expansion of influence and reach of Iran鈥檚 鈥淎xis of Resistance鈥� militia allies, from Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, to the Houthis in Yemen, only to see them systematically decimated by Israel in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
Mr. Khamenei witnessed the collapse of Iran鈥檚 own deterrence, too, when Israel directly targeted its commanders and missile arsenal in a destructive 12-day war last June and the U.S. struck Iran鈥檚 deeply buried nuclear program with bunker-buster bombs.
That, along with the weakening of his regional proxies, marked a turning point. When the ayatollah issued a video statement in June, apparently still in a bunker after a week of silence, he appeared frail and aged. But in tatters, too, was Iran鈥檚 myth of invincibility, which Mr. Khamenei had cultivated for decades.
Iranians had begun to mock his disappearance. One cartoon showed Mr. Khamenei and a rat both popping out of the ground, with Tehran burning in the background. 鈥淲hat happened?鈥� asks the ayatollah. 鈥淲e lost,鈥� replies the rat.
Shaped by prison
Mr. Khamenei鈥檚 own anti-American animus was shaped by his experience in the 1970s in prisons of the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Shah of Iran. Today his portrait still hangs among hundreds in the downtown prison where he was held, which is today a museum called Ebrat, or 鈥淟esson.鈥�
Mannequin torturers and trainers in the exhibits are made to look like agents of the CIA and Israel鈥檚 Mossad, which trained the Shah鈥檚 SAVAK secret police. Blood-red footsteps painted on the floor from cell to cell symbolize the frequent practice then of whipping feet with braided wire.
Three turns off a dark corridor and through a small gap is a grim cell for solitary confinement that is too narrow for a prisoner to extend his arms. This is where Mr. Khamenei was held with Houshang Asadi, a communist who was impressed with his cellmate鈥檚 religiosity, his humanity 鈥� they once hand-fed another prisoner for days 鈥� and his sense of humor.
鈥淗e would recite the Quran quietly, he would pray, and then he would weep, sobbing loudly,鈥� Mr. Asadi recalls in his 2010 memoir, 鈥淟etters to My Torturer.鈥� 鈥淗e would lose himself completely to God. There was something about this type of spirituality that appealed to the heart.鈥�
When they parted, Mr. Asadi gave the thin and shivering Mr. Khamenei his sweater, and felt the 鈥渨arm tears 鈥� running down his face.鈥�
Mr. Khamenei promised him: 鈥淯nder an Islamic government, not a single tear would be shed by the innocent.鈥� Yet years later, Mr. Asadi himself was arrested by the new rulers of Iran 鈥� Mr. Khamenei was president at the time 鈥� and writes that he experienced torture more cruel than anything under the Shah.
American enemy
Such experiences of Iran鈥檚 revolutionaries helped ensure that strident anti-Americanism would be a pillar of belief, calcified by the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and taking 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days.
Ever since, pro-regime rallies and official Friday prayers were replete with chants of 鈥淒eath to America!鈥� and 鈥淒eath to Israel!鈥� and makeshift U.S. and Israeli flags are often torched.
Marking the anniversary of the embassy takeover in 2008, Mr. Khamenei declared that 鈥渢here hasn鈥檛 been a day in which America has had good intentions toward Iran.鈥� The U.S.-Iran problem was not over 鈥渙ne or two鈥� issues, he said, but 鈥渓ike a matter of life and death.鈥�
Despite scalding rhetoric, however, Mr. Khamenei was widely considered a rational and even a cautious actor, who fully embraced the view of his predecessor 鈥� the charismatic father of Iran鈥檚 revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini 鈥� that survival of the Islamic regime took absolute priority, even trumping normal religious obligations.
Such pragmatism prevailed in negotiations that led to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Despite repeatedly warning that the U.S could not be trusted, Mr. Khamenei described the need for 鈥渉eroic flexibility鈥� in religious terms. He approved the exchange of strict limits on Iran鈥檚 nuclear program 鈥� so that it could not quickly race to an atomic bomb 鈥� for lifting sanctions that were wrecking Iran鈥檚 economy.
The deal was brokered in the final years of the Obama administration, and Iran abided by all the terms. But Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from what he called the 鈥渨orst ever鈥� deal in 2018. That prompted Iran, after waiting a year, to start to violate many of its limits and enrich uranium to levels of 60% purity 鈥� a close technical step to bomb-grade.
For Mr. Khamenei, that result was an I-told-you-so moment. When Mr. Trump came to power a second time, Iran鈥檚 supreme leader cited the experience when he said it was forbidden to negotiate with Americans, and 鈥渄oubly鈥� forbidden to do so with this White House.
Still, despite that distrust, Mr. Khamenei authorized further U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, mediated by Oman. They were underway when Israel mounted its surprise attack in June, joined by the U.S.
New nuclear talks were underway again 鈥� with reports of 鈥渟ignificant progress,鈥� and a 鈥渄eal within reach鈥� amid the threat of Mr. Trump鈥檚 naval build-up off Iran鈥檚 coast 鈥� when the U.S. and Israel struck again, killing Iran鈥檚 supreme leader in his bunker.
Scott Peterson has made 45 visits to Iran and is the author of 鈥淟et the Swords Encircle Me: Iran 鈥� A Journey Behind the Headlines.鈥�
