Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, a leader who never hesitated to resort to repression to preserve the system, is going through one of the most complex moments of his more than three decades in power. The internal pressure accumulated in recent months is now compounded by the attacks launched this Saturday by the United States and Israel.
At 86 years old, Jamenei has dominated Iran since assuming office in 1989 after succeeding the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Since then, he has weathered dozens of internal crises, international isolation, and economic sanctions, maintaining a firm control and repression over the centers of political, religious, and military power.
You may be interested in: Netanyahu says there are “signs” that Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei is dead
During his term, he harshly suppressed the 1999 student mobilization, the massive 2009 protests following controversial presidential elections, and
the wave of contestation in 2019, triggered by the rise in fuel prices.
It also stifled the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, triggered in 2022 by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code.
Jamenei, who always wears the black turban of the “seyyed” -descendants of the prophet Muhammad- and a thick white beard, built his leadership on his religious legitimacy.
However, Saturday’s bombings in Iranian territory, followed by the missile response against US bases in the region and the uncertainty about his whereabouts, pose a direct challenge to his narrative.
Before the attacks, the supreme leader remained under strict security measures. His public appearances were infrequent, were not announced in advance, nor were they broadcast live.
Following the latest attacks, the regime insists that the political and military command remains “fully operational”, despite Benjamin Netanyahu claiming that “there are indications” of his death.
Jamenei, it is worth mentioning, has never left the country since he assumed power, following the example of Khomeini, who returned from exile in France during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
His last known trip abroad was in 1989, when he was still president, on an official visit to North Korea.
From activist to absolute leader and head of repression
The son of an imam and born into a humble family, Khamenei became involved from a young age in the opposition to the Shah Reza Pahlavi, an ally of the United States, which earned him years of imprisonment in the 1960s and 1970s.
His loyalty to Khomeini was rewarded after the Revolution, when in 1980 he assumed the direction of Friday prayers in Tehran, a position of great symbolic and political weight.
Elected president in 1981 after the assassination of Mohammad Ali Rajai, he was not initially considered Khomeini’s natural successor.
However, shortly before his death, the founder of the Islamic Republic sidelined the then-favorite, Ayatollah Hossein Montazeri, paving the way for the Assembly of Experts to designate Jamenei as supreme leader.
Since then, his formal authority has never been questioned within the system and he has maintained the ideological line of confrontation with the American “Great Satan” and the refusal to recognize Israel.
But after Saturday’s attacks and the Iranian response, the challenge is no longer just political or social:
it is existential for a regime that, under its command, faces the most delicate test since the war with Iraq in the eighties.
