Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei through the years
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stands Feb. 8, 2020, as the army's air force and air defense staff salute in Tehran. A portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini hangs in the background.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei visits military maneuvers Dec. 8, 2004, in the southwestern province of Khouzestan, near the border with Iraq.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, accompanied by the armed forces commanders, visits an exhibition of the Revolutionary Guard's aerospace achievements Nov. 19, 2023, in Iran.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei arrives May 10, 2024, to vote in the parliamentary runoff elections in Tehran.
Iranian President Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen in October 1981 in a military uniform.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks June 4, 2007, at a commemoration marking the 18th anniversary of the death of Iran's late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Islamic revolution, in Tehran.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, foreground, leads an Eid al-Fitr prayer, marking the end of Muslims' holy fasting month of Ramadan, on Nov. 14, 2004, in Tehran, Iran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei listens to a speaker May 28, 2018, during a meeting with a group of university students in Tehran, Iran.
After delivering a speech, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves as he leaves an April 14, 2006, conference in Tehran, Iran, about support for Palestinians.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks Sept. 19, 2008, during a Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, speaks Aug. 3, 2005, after giving his official seal of approval to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, as former President Mohammad Khatami listens at a ceremony in Tehran.
Then-commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, right, greets Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while attending a March 27, 2015, religious ceremony in Tehran. The U.S. killed Soleimani in 2020 attack on Iraq.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, welcomes Syrian President Bashar Assad for a Feb. 25, 2019, meeting in Tehran, Iran. Islamist-led insurgents ousted Assad in a December 2024 offensive.
Iranians wave to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as he arrives Nov. 8, 2006, in Semnan, Iran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prays Jan. 31, 2026, at the grave of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, commemorating the 47th anniversary of his return from exile during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, just outside Tehran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, speaks with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, center, and the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group Ziad Nakhaleh at a July 30, 2024, meeting in Tehran. A portrait of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini hangs on the wall. Haniyeh was assassinated July 31, 2024, during a visit to Tehran after the inauguration of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel later took responsibility for his killing.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, third right, leads a prayer Aug. 1, 2024, over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard, who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel, during their funeral ceremony at the Tehran University campus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei greet each other July 19, 2022, during a meeting in Tehran, Iran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves May 10, 2025, during his meeting with a large group of laborers in Tehran.
An unidentified man kisses the hand of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iranian Army Commander Ataollah Salehi, right standing, Major Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, the commander of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, right bottom, and Culture Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi, second right, attend a ceremony Dec. 10, 2005, in Tehran, Iran, to commemorate those who died in a plane crash.
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Seen as an unquestionable authority, he built the Revolutionary Guard into the dominant player in military and internal politics.
Iranian state TV says Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the country’s late supreme leader, has been named his successor.
