Although Iran has a president – currently the moderate Masoud Pezeshkian, who is elected -, the top of power lies with the Supreme Guide. For this reason, it is Khamenei who commands the armed forces, the Revolutionary Guard (especially the very powerful Basij paramilitary volunteer militia) and supervises the state media. As Supreme Guide, he also has discretionary power over how the country spends revenue from some of the largest oil reserves in the world.
In his 37 years of government, Khamenei has had a difficult relationship with the West, facing harsh sanctions and has also seen Iranians take to the streets on several occasions in protests. against economic and human rights issues. For Khamenei, the US is Iran’s “number one enemy”, with Israel close behind.
Khamenei has insisted that Iran has no intention of building a nuclear weapon and that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. In recent months, and in the face of US threats of a new attack – after Israel’s 12-day war in June 2025, accompanied by American attacks that Trump assured had “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear capacity – Khamenei maintained a defiant tone, guaranteeing that he would not “depose the Islamic Republic”. And he threatened the US that intervention in Iran would mean a regional war.
The Iranian regime faced a new wave of protests at the end of 2025 and beginning of 2026. These began in the Tehran bazaar against the rising cost of living, but soon spread throughout the country and began targeting the regime.
The violent repression managed to stifle discontent – at the cost of thousands of deaths and many more arrests – and Iran and the US were currently engaged in indirect negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
Wherever he has spent the last few days, Khamenei knows he is a target for both Americans and Israelis – they have been most vocal in calling for his elimination. AND at 86 years old, the ayatollah he will have already appointed three clerics who could succeed him.
Normally, the process of naming a new Supreme Guide could take months, with clerics choosing from their own lists of names. But last June, with the country at war, the ayatollah wanted to ensure a quick and orderly transition and preserve his legacy.
According to the New York Timesdespite having been named as a possible successor, his son Mojtada will not be on the list, but the American newspaper did not say which names would be on this list. Until his death in 2024 in a helicopter crash, former conservative president Ibrahim Raisi was also considered a favorite.
In the streets, in recent months, there has been shouting “death to Khamenei”, but also “Javid Shah“, which means “Long live the shah”, and “Pahlavi will return”. Reza Pahlavi, 65, is the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran, who died in Egypt a year after being overthrown in the revolution led by ayatollah Khomeini younger 1979.
Leave a Reply