Sky News Daily From accidental to absolute leader – who is Ayatollah Khamenei?
Jun 20, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Alex Vatanka, founding director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute, unravels the complex leadership of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He delves into Khamenei's surprising rise to power and his alliance with the Revolutionary Guards. The podcast explores how Khamenei's policies shape Iran's anti-Western stance and his support for militant groups. Vatanka even examines the ripple effects of Khamenei's potential assassination, questioning the future of governance in Iran and its geopolitical ramifications.
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Iran's Dual Power Pillars
- Iran's political system rests on two pillars: clerics led by the supreme leader, and the Revolutionary Guards as the regime's ideological arm.
- The Guards expanded from protecting clerics domestically to spreading Khamenei's worldview regionally to oppose the West and Israel.
Khamenei's Rise by Coalition
- Khamenei, from a humble background and not heavily qualified religiously, became supreme leader at 49 by building a coalition with the Revolutionary Guards.
- He spent his early years low-profile, focusing on bonding with Guards who sought a new mission post-Iran-Iraq war.
Khamenei's Hardline Consolidation
- Khamenei shifted from a pragmatic early president to a hardline supreme leader, blocking reforms and normalizing relations with the West.
- He framed himself as a leader of Muslims worldwide, using Palestine as an ideological cause central to his foreign policy.