The Most Powerful Man in Iran: Ayatollah Khamenei’s Ideological Tenets, Scope of Power, and Confrontations with the West

Excerpt

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Husseini Khamenei inherited and amassed incredible power across decades at the helm of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He holds dominion over Iran’s three branches of government and commands the armed forces, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which serves as Iran’s primary means for exporting the revolution. The Iranian economy is also largely governed by the state, with the Ayatollah and the IRGC controlling oil revenue and the country’s charitable foundations which account for billions of dollars in assets. No high-level decision making in Iran is done outside of his purview.

On June 13, 2025, Israel began a series of strikes aimed at inflicting serious damage to Khamenei’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. Roughly a week later, after Israel severely damaged critical Iranian nuclear infrastructure and obliterated Iran’s air defense systems, the United States joined the assault and carried out precision strikes on three crucial Iranian nuclear sites utilizing Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs. Some analysts argue that these strikes may have “irreversibly degraded Iran’s drive for the bomb,” though the full extent of the damage remains unknown. Yet, rather than waving the white flag of surrender, Khamenei’s foreign minister addressed the international community in response, stating, “Iran reserves all options to defend its security interests and people.” Meanwhile, Khamenei has reportedly selected three possible successors while he hid in a bunker, scrambling to ensure the preservation of the Islamic Republic in the wake of catastrophic blows.

Shannon Walsh is deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ National Security Network. She graduated from Tulane University with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with an international relations concentration. Shannon is an alumna of SSS Iran.