Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who led the Islamic Republic since 1989, is dead at 86

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who assembled theocratic powerfulness successful Iran implicit the decades arsenic its ultimate person and sought to crook it into a determination powerhouse, bringing it into confrontation with Israel and the United States implicit its atomic programme portion crushing ideology protesters astatine home, has died. He was 86.

Iranian authorities media reported the decease aboriginal Sunday, aft a large onslaught launched by Israel and the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump said hours earlier that Khamenei had been killed successful the associated operation.

Khamenei dramatically remolded the Islamic Republic since helium took the reins aft the decease of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini successful 1989. Khomeini was the fiery, charismatic ideologue who led the overthrow of the shah and installed regularisation by Shiite Muslim clerics tasked with spreading spiritual purity. It fell to Khamenei, a stodgier fig with weaker spiritual credentials and a leaden demeanor, to crook that revolutionary imaginativeness into a authorities establishment.

He ended up ruling acold longer than Khomeini. He greatly expanded the Shiite clerical people and built the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard into the astir important assemblage underpinning his rule. The Guard became a subject and concern behemoth, the country’s astir elite unit and caput of its ballistic rocket arsenal, with hands crossed Iran’s economical sectors.

But the strains became harder to contain. Political repression and the faltering system fueled successively bigger waves of wide protests. Anger implicit the 2022 decease of Mahsa Amini, detained for not wearing her mandatory headscarf properly, escalated into demonstrations against societal restrictions. In aboriginal January, hundreds of thousands marched successful cities crossed the country, galore chanting, “Death to Khamenei.”

Khamenei responded with the deadliest crackdown seen successful astir 50 years of clerical regularisation arsenic information forces opened occurrence connected crowds, sidesplitting thousands.

At the aforesaid time, the Mideast wars sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught connected Israel acceptable successful question the illness of the regionwide “Axis of Resistance” built by Khamenei. Israel and Iran attacked each different straight for the archetypal clip successful 2024. Israel struck Iran again successful June 2025, arsenic it and the United States targeted the country’s atomic programme and killed apical subject officers and atomic scientists. Iran retaliated by sending missiles and drones astatine Israel.

Khamenei’s decease raises questions astir the aboriginal of the Islamic Republic.

The 88-seat Assembly of Experts, a radical of mostly hard-line clerics, volition take Khamenei’s replacement. But nary wide successor is successful place.

As helium launched the bombing Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump called connected Iranians to “take implicit your government. It volition beryllium yours to take. This volition beryllium astir apt your lone accidental for generations.” What happens adjacent whitethorn beryllium greatly connected bodies similar the Revolutionary Guard, which has repeatedly shown its willingness to usage overwhelming unit to support powerfulness adjacent arsenic galore of Iran’s 90 cardinal radical turn disenchanted.

“Culturally, the authorities is bankrupt,” said Mehdi Khalaji, an expert astatine the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said successful 2017. “The ideology of the Islamic Republic did not enactment astatine all.”

Khamenei’s girl and son-in-law, a grandchild and a daughter-in-law besides were killed successful Saturday's attack, according to the semiofficial Fars quality agency, citing unidentified sources.

Iran’s authorities declared 40 days of nationalist mourning and a seven-day nationwide nationalist vacation to commemorate Khamenei’s death.

From a questioned commencement to a hard-line grip connected Iran

Ali Khamenei was calved into a spiritual household successful the northeastern beatified metropolis of Mashhad, a hotbed of revolutionary fervor during the conflict against the Western-allied shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Like galore different Iranian leaders, helium studied nether Khomeini astatine the seminary successful the beatified metropolis of Qom, southbound of Tehran, successful the aboriginal 1960s, earlier Khomeini's exile to Iraq and France.

Khamenei joined the anti-shah movement, facing clip successful some situation and successful hiding. When Khomeini returned to Iran successful triumph successful February 1979 and proclaimed the Islamic Republic, Khamenei was appointed to the secretive Revolutionary Council. In 1981, helium was elected Iran's 3rd president; that aforesaid year, a bombing by opponents near him with 1 manus paralyzed.

With his thick, heavy-framed glasses, Khamenei lacked the steely regard and fiery aura of Khomeini, the begetter of the Islamic Revolution. He fell acold abbreviated of Khomeini’s spiritual scholarship, holding the comparatively debased fertile of “hojatolislam” successful the Shiite clerical hierarchy.

After being named ultimate person aft Khomeini's death, helium bounded overnight to the level of expansive ayatollah, astatine the apical of the hierarchy, and for years had to woody with skepticism implicit his credentials.

Khamenei acknowledged the doubts with humility. “I americium an idiosyncratic with galore faults and shortcomings and genuinely a insignificant seminarian,” helium said successful his archetypal code successful his caller post.

Despite his deficiency of charisma, Khamenei stabilized Iran aft the 1980s warfare with Iraq and governed for implicit 3 decades — acold longer than Khomeini.

Hard-liners considered him 2nd lone to God successful his authority. Khamenei created an ever-growing bureaucracy of Shiite clerics and governmental agencies that blurred responsibilities and near him arsenic the eventual arbiter. As Iran questioned whether to support the Revolutionary Guard aft the warfare with Iraq, Khamenei came to its rescue and allowed the paramilitary unit to summation a almighty grip connected Iran’s economy. He besides utilized a strategy of appointees to undercut the civilian authorities elected by its people.

The emergence and autumn of Iran’s proxy forces

Under Khamenei's reign, Iran shifted afloat from accepted warfare to enactment for proxies, gathering the alleged Axis of Resistance to beforehand its interests successful the region. The Lebanese militant radical Hezbollah, established with Iran's assistance successful the 1980s, drove Israel from confederate Lebanon successful 2000 and battled it to a stalemate successful the monthlong 2006 war.

Through Hezbollah, Iran perfected a strategy of making section militant groups its allies to task powerfulness — often done violence. Iran followed that exemplary erstwhile backing Yemen's Houthi rebels, who successful 2014 seized the country's capital, Sanaa, and held connected for implicit a decennary successful a stalemated warfare successful the Arab world's poorest federation — contempt facing a Saudi-led conjugation and later, U.S.-led airstrikes implicit their attacks successful the Red Sea corridor.

Elsewhere, suspected Iranian-backed militants bombed a Jewish halfway successful Buenos Aires successful 1994, sidesplitting 85 people. Iran besides was allegedly linked to the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers lodging analyzable successful Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 members of the U.S. military. Iran denied work for some attacks.

Iran emerged arsenic a premier beneficiary of the U.S.-led penetration of Iraq successful 2003, which replaced its main determination threat, Saddam Hussein, with a affable Shiite-led government. Iranian-backed militias waged a brutal insurgency against U.S. forces and embedded themselves wrong the country's governmental landscape.

Khamenei utilized the Guard's expeditionary Quds Force astir successfully aft the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State radical seized ample swaths of Iraq and Syria successful 2014. Guard troops advised Shiite militias, the champion fighters successful Iraq, and gave important enactment to President Bashar al-Assad successful Syria’s civilian war.

That secured Assad for a decade, until the chaos sparked by Hamas' onslaught connected Israel successful 2023. Israel devastated the Gaza Strip and launched airstrikes and crushed operations pulverizing Hamas, which Iran had equipped and funded for years. Israel is wide believed to person killed Hamas person Ismail Haniyeh successful an cognition successful Tehran successful 2024, further embarrassing the Islamic Republic.

Hezbollah recovered its ranks targeted by exploding pagers and an Israeli run killed its longtime person Hassan Nasrallah. Then, successful December 2024, rebel fighters toppled Assad successful an violative successful Syria, ending a half-century of his family's autocratic rule.

Nuclear programme advances to near-weapons-grade levels

The ultimate person remained profoundly suspicious of the U.S., referring to it arsenic the “Great Satan” adjacent aft President Barack Obama came into bureau successful 2009, offering dialog and a caller start.

He shrugged disconnected U.N. sanctions and pushed up with Iran’s atomic program, which the U.S. and its allies accidental hid a concealed task to physique a atomic limb up until 2003. Khamenei issued a verbal fatwa, oregon spiritual ruling, that atomic weapons are un-Islamic, but vowed the state would ne'er springiness up its close to make what helium called a peaceful atomic vigor program.

Under Iran's 2015 atomic woody with satellite powers, Tehran agreed to drastically trim its stockpile and enrichment of uranium successful speech for the lifting of economical sanctions. But lone 3 years later, Trump successful his archetypal word unilaterally withdrew Washington from the accord, arguing it didn't spell acold enough.

Iran has since breached each the limits of the atomic woody and accumulated a stockpile of uranium enriched to astir weapons-grade levels, present ample capable to prosecute respective atomic weapons if it chose to bash so. Diplomatic efforts to reconstruct the woody nether President Joe Biden stalled.

In a March 2011 speech, Khamenei utilized toppled Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who had fixed up his ain atomic programme years earlier, arsenic an illustration of wherefore Iran’s atomic programme remained truthful important successful the aftermath of the Arab Spring upheavals successful the Middle East.

“Just the mode you springiness a lollipop to a child, Westerners gave ‘incentives’ to them and they gave up everything,” Khamenei said.

Protests and demands for alteration intensified

Khamenei's archetypal large situation came successful 1997, erstwhile pro-reform politicians gained power of parliament and cleric Mohammad Khatami was elected president by a landslide, riding a ample younker vote. The reformists demanded a loosening of the strict societal rules imposed by the gyration and called for improved ties with the extracurricular world, including the U.S.

Khamenei-backed hard-liners moved to incorporate the wide movement, fearing it would yet telephone for an extremity to clerical rule. Khamenei stopped parliament from loosening restrictions connected the media successful an unusually overt intervention. Clerical bodies blocked different cardinal wide authorities and banned galore reformist lawmakers from moving for reelection, ensuring a instrumentality of hard-liner power successful the 2004 elections.

That acceptable the signifier for the predetermination of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad successful 2005 and his disputed reelection successful 2009 amid charges of vote-rigging. Mass protests broke out, posing the top menace successful decades to Iran’s clerical leadership. The Revolutionary Guard, Basij militia and constabulary unleashed a crackdown successful which dozens were killed and hundreds arrested.

The turmoil, and reports of protesters being tortured to decease oregon raped successful prison, dealt a terrible stroke to Khamenei’s prestige.

As sanctions spot further, fashionable unrest rose. Economic protests broke retired successful 2017 and demonstrations escalated successful 2019 implicit a emergence successful government-set gasoline prices. A bloody crackdown that followed killed implicit 300 people, according to activists.

Although Khamenei struggled to sphere the ideological purity of the Islamic Revolution, Iran’s authorities has mostly failed to escaped the state of Western influence. Satellite dishes, banned successful theory, assemblage Tehran’s rooftops. Banned societal media sites are wide used, adjacent by immoderate salient politicians, contempt being blocked.

Protests erupted again successful 2022 implicit the decease of Amini, a young pistillate detained for not wearing her hijab, oregon headscarf, to the liking of authorities. More than 500 radical were killed and tens of thousands arrested erstwhile information forces crushed the demonstrations again.

In precocious December 2025, caller economical protests erupted and would turn into what appeared to beryllium the biggest protestation question ever. Hundreds of thousands crossed the state took to the streets, overtly demanding an extremity to the Islamic Republic. Some adjacent chanted for the instrumentality of the shah's son, surviving successful exile since 1979. The ferocity of the crackdown stunned Iranians.

Confrontation with US

With U.S. President Donald Trump, Khamenei faced a much assertive and unpredictable American thrust to halt Iran’s atomic program. Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Iran’s atomic woody with satellite powers successful 2018, bringing a instrumentality of sanctions.

The 2 sides came adjacent to warfare with the United States aft an American drone onslaught killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani successful January 2020. At Soleimani’s wide ceremonial that drew millions to the streets, Khamenei wept implicit the casket of the antheral helium erstwhile called a “living martyr.” Two days later, the Guard mistakenly changeable down a Ukrainian airliner aft its takeoff from Tehran, sidesplitting each 176 radical aboard.

Iran ramped uranium enrichment backmost up, reaching 60% purity — a short, method measurement distant from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Still, erstwhile Trump returned to the White House successful January 2025, Khamenei resumed talks, underscoring the heavy toll the sanctions had taken. Iran’s long-ailing system entered a freefall, worsening home unrest.

But a woody remained elusive. In June, Israel and the U.S. bombed Iranian atomic facilities, inflicting dense damage. How acold backmost it acceptable the programme remained unclear.

During the crackdown connected nationwide protests successful January, Trump renewed threats to strike, demanding Iran marque large concessions astatine the negotiating table. Then came 3 rounds of indirect talks. Then came Saturday.

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Former Associated Press writer Brian Murphy contributed.

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