Who is Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran?

Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, on June 18, rejected US President Donald Trump’s call for Iran’s unconditional surrender. He also said that Israel had made a serious mistake by attacking Iran.

In a message posted on X, Khamenei stated, “Those familiar with Iran’s history would never address this nation with threats, as the Iranian people will never surrender. The Americans must understand that any military intervention will inflict irreversible damage.”

This is not the first time Khamenei has sent strong warnings to the US or highlighted the tense ties between the two countries. Khamenei, who became Iran’s Supreme Leader in 1989 after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death, has spent most of his life defending the ideals of the Iranian revolution.

Who is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?

Ali Khamenei was born in 1939 in Mashhad, a city in northern Iran. He was the second of eight children in a family. His father was a religious scholar. Following in his father’s footsteps, Khamenei studied religion in Qom between 1958 and 1964. He joined Ayatollah Khomeini’s movement against the Shah in 1962.

Khamenei was jailed several times by the Shah’s government. He played an important role in the 1979 revolution and later became Iran’s president from 1981 to 1989. During this time, he led the country through the Iran-Iraq war. After Ayatollah Khomeini’s death, Khamenei became the Supreme Leader.

In his early years, Khamenei was interested in both religious and intellectual ideas and often discussed these with thinkers from different backgrounds.

When did Khamenei become Supreme Leader?

Khamenei has been Iran’s top leader since 1989, after the death of the country’s first Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini led Iran for ten years after overthrowing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

After Khomeini’s death, Khamenei was selected as Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts. Before that, he was president of Iran for eight years.