The network of Iranian-backed allies that Khamenei built in the years following the eight-year Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) and after Khomeini’s death in 1989 dominated the Middle East for decades. The “Axis of Resistance” centered around Iran’s supreme leader consisted of the Syrian Assad regime, the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, several Shiite militias in Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen.
With the help of these allies, all armed, trained and financed by Tehran, Iran under Khamenei became a key player in the Sunni Arab world and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Like almost a quarter of Iran’s population, Khamenei speaks Azerbaijani, which explains his fluency in Turkish, a close linguistic relative of Azerbaijani. He was born in Mashhad in northeastern Iran, the country’s second largest city, and studied under Khomeini in Qom, the center of Shiite Islamic education. During the Shah’s reign, Khamenei was imprisoned several times.
When the Shah was overthrown in 1979 and a motley crew of Democrats, Communists and religious extremists tried to share power, this immediately proved impossible. To the public’s surprise, the religious proved to be the most effective power players, particularly Khamenei, who was elected president in 1981. In the 1980s, secular leaders were forced into exile or mass executed, and when Khamenei succeeded Khomeini in 1989, the regime was consolidated.
Khamenei’s rule was never popular. The economy was severely affected by the Revolutionary Guards’ dominance of finance and industry. Hundreds of thousands of highly educated people left the country. But Khamenei was a cold-blooded and shrewd politician who avoided unnecessary conflict with the West and often cooperated secretly with the United States while the countries were in deep conflict – including acting together against common enemies such as al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Khamenei’s final years were a nightmarish series of disappointments. His protégés Hamas and Hezbollah opposed Israel and paid a very high price: leadership was wiped out and influence was lost. His strongest ally in the region, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, fell from power, and when Israel attacked Iran last year, the country, despite all its expensive protégés, found itself alone. The region’s Sunni Muslim leaders quietly applauded Iran’s spectacular setbacks, both abroad and at home.
Fought under Khamenei a long series of riots and civil uprisings that were mercilessly suppressed, culminating in January this year when record numbers of civilians, perhaps tens of thousands, were mowed down with automatic weapons and machine guns. Significantly, Khamenei’s latest and final major crisis erupted when the regime’s traditional allies, the bazaar traders, joined protests against the worthless currency and the lack of electricity, water and food. Spontaneous support for the regime today is likely to be minimal, except among Iranians whose livelihoods depend on it.
Khamenei’s rule was an unusual combination of tyranny and diversity. On the one hand, Iranians resisted the regime at the risk of their lives, but on the other hand, the regime itself was a tangle of different and often contradictory interests. Khamenei ensured stability by setting limits on the inventions of the various actors. It would be surprising if the system managed to survive itself in the long run.
Facts.Ali Khamenei
● Ali Khamenei, born in 1939, has played an important role in Iranian politics since the fall of the monarchy in 1979.
● During its 37-year rule, Iran replaced Egypt and Iraq as the leading superpower in the Middle East.
● In 2015, he defied regime extremists and concluded the JCPOA agreement with major powers that placed limits on Iran’s nuclear program.
● Since President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA in 2018, Khamenei has ordered intensive uranium enrichment to 60 percent, bordering on the limit of nuclear weapons capability.
