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Who is (and where is) Khamenei, the Ayatollah who hasn't left Iran since 1989?

2026-02-28 15:36:38Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Who is (and where is) Khamenei, the Ayatollah who hasn't left Iran since
Khamenei has not moved outside Iran since 1989, the year he was crowned Supreme Leader.

They say he has been moved to an underground bunker. Probably in Levizan, northeast of Tehran. “He is not in Tehran ,” an Iranian official told Reuters, “ and he is in a safe place.”

Family members may be in hiding with Ali Khamenei. Although the whereabouts of his favorite, his second son, Mojtaba, designated to take his place, are unknown. There is anxiety in the circle of the man who has led and oppressed Iran for 37 years.

After the “12-Day War” a few months ago, he finds himself again facing a joint attack by the United States and Israel, the stated objectives of which were announced by Trump in a video on Truth. “ The regime can never have nuclear weapons. This operation is to protect the American people from threats from Tehran, which has been trying to rebuild its nuclear program and was developing long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. We will strike the regime’s targets and military targets, destroy their missiles, destroy their weapons production facilities, destroy their navy.”

These objectives do not explicitly include his elimination. But they suggest that his death may be among the ultimate objectives – although, for now, this is only a hypothesis. Since the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanese Hezbollah, security measures around the Ayatollah have been tightened.

Khamenei's protection is entrusted to an apparatus managed by the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG), through its special unit, the "Vali Amr Protection Corps." "Nobody trusts anyone anymore," said one source, "it is clear that Mossad is also among his most loyal followers."

Khamenei has not set foot outside Iran since 1989, the year he was crowned Supreme Leader.

"It was a surprise when he became Supreme Leader after the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini ," Gary Sick, who was the White House's chief negotiator during the 1979 hostage crisis, told Corriere della Sera.

“He was a senior official in the Revolutionary Command Council and had held a number of key positions, including deputy defense minister, but he had never been among those who made the revolution or one of its leaders. He was a cleric, but many high-ranking clerics did not consider him qualified for the presidency or to replace Khomeini ,” Sick said.

However, Khamenei served two terms as president, starting in 1981, and became Supreme Leader in 1989 through a constitutional amendment.

“And they immediately called him an ayatollah, even though he wasn’t one at all .” He was a hojatolleslam, a cleric of the lowest rank: critics over the years mocked him with the nickname “Shish Kelaseh,” meaning “six years of school.”

Khamenei lacks the charisma of Khomeini, but he was able to maintain power and the "flame" of the Islamic revolution, thanks to his alliance with conservatives and the Pasdaran.

“When he became leader in 1989, he opened the door to the Revolutionary Guard in economic and political matters, especially to counter the reformist movement,” said Mohsen Sazegara, who has lived in America since 2003 and ended up in prison when he became a reformist.

Since then, the Leader and the Pasdaran have supported each other.

"And along the way, Khamenei has transformed Iran into the kind of dictatorship that only the Shah could have dreamed of," Sick said.

Of Azerbaijani origin, as a young man, the Ayatollah composed poetry, wore everyday clothes, and spoke of his love of literature. He married Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh and has six children: four sons and two daughters.

Known for his sober and ascetic lifestyle, he hates luxury.

One hand is partially paralyzed after a stroke in 1981 and he survived cancer in 2014.

It is said that he refuses precious gifts, or sells them, donating the proceeds to those in need.

Ideologically, Khamenei presents himself as a defender of the values ​​of the Islamic revolution: social justice, national independence, and Islamic governance. But his real model is clearly authoritarian and repressive, aimed at ensuring the survival of the regime.

The ayatollahs imprison, torture, and kill any form of dissent, as we have seen with the attempted revolutions of recent years. From 2009, with the Green Movement, to 2023, with Women, Life, Freedom, where over 20,000 people were imprisoned and five hundred were killed. Assuming that Trump and Netanyahu’s objectives include eliminating the Supreme Leader, it becomes important to try to imagine the scenarios after Khamenei.

The name of his second son, his favorite son, Mojtaba, has been circulating for years as a possible successor. The leader's assassination would risk triggering internal conflicts that would spread chaos across the region, given his influence over Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

A military coup, a civil war, or a popular revolution cannot be ruled out. Reformists could try to seize power, or a diaspora leader could return, like Prince Reza Pahlavi, who has repeatedly said in recent months, "I am at the disposal of my people."


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