Ali Khamenei

Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei
علی خامنه‌ای
Khamenei in 2025
2nd Supreme Leader of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 August 1989[nb]
President	Himself Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Mohammad Khatami Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Hassan Rouhani Ebrahim Raisi Mohammad Mokhber (acting) Masoud Pezeshkian
Preceded by	Ruhollah Khomeini
3rd President of Iran
In office 9 October 1981 – 16 August 1989
Supreme Leader	Ruhollah Khomeini Himself
Prime Minister	Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded by	Mohammad-Ali Rajai
Succeeded by	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
1st Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council
In office 7 February 1988 – 4 June 1989
Appointed by	Ruhollah Khomeini
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Member of the Assembly of Experts
In office 15 August 1983 – 4 June 1989
Constituency	Tehran Province[1]
Majority	2,800,353 (87.8%)[2]
Member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly
In office 28 May 1980 – 13 October 1981
Constituency	Tehran, Rey and Shemiranat
Majority	1,405,976 (65.8%)[3]
Tehran's Friday Prayer Imam
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 January 1980
Appointed by	Ruhollah Khomeini
Interim Imams	See list Ahmad Jannati Ahmad Khatami Kazem Seddiqi Ali Movahedi-Kermani Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi Fard Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari
Preceded by	Hussein-Ali Montazeri
Personal details
Born	Ali Hosseini Khameneh[4] (1939-04-19) 19 April 1939 (age 86) Mashhad, Khorasan, Iran
Political party	Independent (since 1989)
Other political affiliations	Islamic Republican Party (1979–1987) Combatant Clergy Association (1977–1989)[5]
Spouse	Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh ​ ​ (m. 1964)​
Children	6 (including Mostafa, Mojtaba, and Masoud)[6]
Parent	Javad Khamenei (father)
Relatives	Mohammad Khamenei (brother) Hadi Khamenei (brother) Badri Khamenei (sister)
Residence	House of Leadership
Education	Khorasan Seminary Najaf Seminary Qom Seminary[7]
Signature
Website	english.khamenei.ir
Military service
Allegiance	Islamic Republic of Iran
Branch/service	Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Irregular Warfare Headquarters[8]
Years of service	1979–1980, 1980–1981
Commands	Revolutionary Guards[9]
Battles/wars	Iran–Iraq War Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh[8]
Main interest(s)	Uṣūl al-Fiqh, Tafsir[7]
Notable idea(s)	Fatwa against nuclear weapons
Religious life
Religion	Islam
Denomination	Twelver Shiʿa
Jurisprudence	Ja'fari
Creed	Usuli
Muslim leader
Teacher	Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi Ruhollah Khomeini[7]
Ali Khamenei's voice Khamenei speaking at the Hussainiya of Lovers of Karbala in Sari Recorded 14 October 1995
n.b. ^ Acting: 3 June – 6 August 1989[10]

Ali Hosseini Khamenei^[a] (born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989. His tenure as supreme leader, spanning 36 years, makes him the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East and the second-longest-serving Iranian leader of the 20th and 21st centuries, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Born in Mashhad to the Khamenei family originating from the town of Khamaneh, East Azerbaijan province, Ali Khamenei studied at a hawza in his hometown, later settling in Qom in 1958 where he attended the classes of Ruhollah Khomeini. Khamenei became involved in opposition to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, and was arrested six times before being exiled for three years by the Shah's regime. Khamenei was a mainstream figure in the Iranian Revolution (1978–1979), and upon its success, held many posts in the newly-established Islamic Republic of Iran. In the aftermath of the revolution, he was the target of an attempted assassination that paralysed his right arm. Khamenei served as the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989 during the Iran–Iraq War, when he also developed close ties the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). After the death of Khomeini in 1989, Khamenei was elected supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts.

As supreme leader, Khamenei promoted scientific progress in Iran, making considerable advances through education and training, despite international sanctions. He supported Iran's nuclear program for civilian use while issuing a fatwa forbidding the production of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction. Khamenei favoured economic privatization of state-owned industries and, with oil and gas reserves, transformed Iran into an "energy superpower". With his foreign policy being centered on Shia Islamism and exporting the Iranian Revolution, Iran supported the "Axis of Resistance" coalition in the Iraq War, the Syrian civil war and the Yemeni civil war. A staunch critic of Israel and of Zionism, he is known for his support of the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Khamenei has also faced many protests during his reign, including the 2009 presidential election protests, 2018–2019 general strikes and protests and the Mahsa Amini protests.

The subject of a pervasive cult of personality, Khamenei is regarded by his supporters as a resolute anti-imperialist leader who challenged Western hegemony in the region and the embodiment of Iran's Islamic identity. He is also known by the title Ayatollah and is considered one of the leading Shia Muslim marja in the world. Khamenei's critics view him as a despot responsible for repression, mass murders and other acts of injustice, although the applicability of these have been contested.

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