Ali Khamenei

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses Iranians on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (portrait), in Tehran on June 4, 2025.

Ali Khamenei: the guardian of Iran's strategic patience doctrine

For decades, Iran's supreme leader—first Khomeini, then Khamenei—pursued a strategy of backing regional militias to fight Israel, but with the 'resistance axis' in tatters, Iran is left to fight alone

Arash Azizi 21 June 2025

An Iranian national shows her ink marked finger after voting in the presidential election at the Iranian Embassy in Kuwait City on June 28, 2024.

YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP

What are Iranians voting for?

Two key candidates—Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Masud Pezeshkian—are promising to make a deal with the West to lift the sanctions, while Saeed Jalili is pushing for ties with non-Western countries

Arash Azizi 28 June 2024

Khamanei wishes to keep his regime intact for as long as he is alive and to doggedly pursue its goals of destroying Israel and completing the Khomeinist revolution.

Deena So'Oteh

What does Khamenei want for Israel and the region?

Khamenei continues to carry out Khomeini's vision, which is not only bent on the destruction of Israel but aspires to be the dominant regional power. To this end, Iran exercises 'strategic patience'.

Arash Azizi 18 May 2024

People participate in a protest against the Islamic regime of Iran and the death of Mahsa Amini in New York City, New York, U.S., September 27, 2022. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

Anti-Government Protests Rock Iran

On Monday 26 September, about 500 people were arrested in Mazandaran, a northern province of Iran. Amnesty International reported at least four children among those killed by the security forces…

Suzan Quitaz 30 September 2022

Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi delivers speech at the Imam Reza shrine in the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, on June 22, 2021. (Getty)

What Raisi’s Presidency Means for the Region

In his first statement as Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi rejected the possibility of meeting with US president Joe Biden, or even negotiating Iran’s ballistic missiles program and support for…

Hanin Ghaddar 25 June 2021

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