Iran: Life of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been Iran’s spiritual guide and top political authority since 1989, when he succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as supreme leader.

Here is a look at his life in key dates:

– July 17, 1939: Khamenei is born in the shrine city of Mashhad to parents from Iran’s Azeri minority.

– 1957: Meets Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who will emerge as a key influence.

– 1977: After several stays in prison due to his opposition to the shah, he is exiled to Iranshahr, a remote desert city close to the Pakistan border. He returns to Mashhad in 1979 for the Islamic Revolution.

– 1979: His rapid ascent to power begins when he is named deputy defence minister and subsequently head of the elite Revolutionary Guards by Khomeini.

– 1981: Becomes the first cleric to be elected president of the Islamic republic. Re-elected in 1985.

– June 27, 1981: Survives a bomb attack by the outlawed People’s Mujahedeen group in a Tehran mosque, but his right hand is never the same. Learns to write with his left.

– June 4, 1989: Upon the death of Khomeini, he is elected supreme leader just a year after the end of the war with Iraq (1980-1988).

– January 2005: Confirms the “death sentence” fatwa handed down on writer Salman Rushdie by Khomeini.

– September 8, 2014: Undergoes prostate surgery after two decades of speculation about his health.

– July 14, 2015: Supports the Vienna accord with world powers on Iran’s nuclear programme.

– January 17, 2020: Leads Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since 2012. Uses the occasion to condemn anti-government protests.

– October 3, 2022: Blames the United States and Israel for fomenting the widespread nationwide unrest sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

– June 13-24, 2025: Going into hiding during the 12-day war with Israel, which the United States briefly joins, but emerges from the conflict unscathed.

– January 17, 2026: Says “Iran must break the back of the seditionists” as the clerical authorities brutally repress the biggest protests against the Islamic republic in more than three years.

– February 28, 2026: Killed in the wave of strikes launched by the United States and Israel.