At 3.07 am (IST) on March 1, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, "Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead". Later, Iran's state media confirmed the death of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, amid a coordinated attack by the US and Israel.
The death of Khamenei, the pillar of Iran's theocratic system, marks the end of an era. The 86-year-old, who became Iran's Supreme Leader in 1989, warded off challenges to his hardline regime for decades.
These include the 1999 student demonstrations, 2009 mass protests against the disputed presidential polls, 2019 demonstrations, and, more recently, the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement sparked by the death in custody of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women. All these public movements were brutally suppressed.
A Lifelong Hardliner
Khamenei worked with six presidents, including some moderate figures, but consistently chose the hardline view. As for the US, he was convinced that no good can come out of holding talks. Last year, as tensions mounted, Khamenei said negotiation with the US does not solve any problems as it is neither "rational, nor intelligent, nor honourable". Last month, he warned that any attack on Iran would trigger a regional war, indicating that Tehran would not hesitate to escalate the conflict in the Middle East if attacked. The ongoing strikes on the UAE and Qatar reflect that Khamenei's instructions are being followed even after his death.
As someone who faced and crushed domestic dissent, Khameini always projected protests at home as manifestations of Western influence. These protests were crushed by brutal crackdowns, claiming many lives.
"I Am Opposed"
Khamenei was at the forefront of the Iranian Revolution that ended the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and close aide of Ruhollah Khomeini, who would later become Iran's Supreme Leader. Following the regime change, he handled key responsibilities before becoming President and then succeeding Khomenei as the Supreme Leader.
Following Khomeini's death in 1989, the process to elect his successor began. Iran's constitution lays down that the Supreme Leader must be chosen by a group of senior clerics known as the Assembly of Experts.
According to a report in The New Yorker, Khamenei was not a favorite for the job, and his selection was engineered by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a dominant political leader who succeeded Khamenei as President. "Many believe that he saw Khamenei as easy to manipulate. When the choice was announced, Khamenei made a show of proclaiming his lack of expertise in Islamic theology. 'I am truly not worthy of this title,' he told the assembly. 'My nomination should make us all cry tears of blood.' Skeptics regarded this as a classic display of taarof, a Persian tradition of overweening, even insincere politeness," the report says.
Other reports claim Khamenei said, "I am opposed", when his name came up for the position of the Supreme Leader, but the others were firm in their support.
An Assassination Attempt, And Permanent Damage
Eight years before he became the Supreme Leader, Khamenei, then President, survived an assassination attempt, but suffered a permanent injury. On June 27, 1981, he went to a mosque to pray. It was a Saturday. Following the prayers, he spoke to his followers and responded to their questions.
A young man put a tape recorder on a desk in front of Khamenei and pressed a button. After about a minute, the recorder began whistling and exploded.
On the inner wall of the tape recorder, a message read, "A gift of Furqan Group to the Islamic Republic". Furqan Group was a militant opposition to the ruling clerical order.
Khamenei took several months to recover after suffering injuries to his right arm, vocal cords, and lungs. While some wounds healed, his right arm was paralysed forever.
It is a twist of fate that after cheating death on a Saturday, he finally succumbed on another Saturday, 45 years later.
The news of Khamenei's assassination has given rise to more questions, one of them about how death penetrated the tight security enjoyed by Iran's Supreme Leader.
"As supreme leader, he never set foot outside the country, a precedent set by his predecessor Khomeini following his triumphant return to Tehran from France in 1979. Khamenei's last known foreign trip was an official visit to North Korea in 1989 as president, where he met Kim Il Sung," an AFP report says.
