Ali Khamenei

[[File:Khamenei 2023.jpeg|thumb|right|165 px|Ol' Ali himself.]]
{{islam}}{{cquote|When [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Khomeini]] died in 1989, his nominated successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was duly chosen as supreme leader, though he lacked Khomeini’s unique authority. Nonetheless, the Iranian Islamic Republic has been highly successful in projecting Shiite and Iranian power, seeking nuclear weapons, using militias such as [[Hezbollah]] and [[Hamas]], and involving itself in the wars in [[Iraq]] and [[Syria]]. It is an aggressive, oppressive [[theocracy]] yet its hybrid semi-democracy, with elected presidents and parliaments, has given it the flexibility to survive and to build power unprecedented since the days of the Persian empire.|||{{w|Simon Sebag Montefiore}}<ref>''Titans of History'' by Simon Sebag Montefiore (2012) Quercus. ISBN 9781780870267.</ref>{{rp|549}}}}
[[Ayatollah]] '''Ali Hosseini Khamenei''' (Persian: سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای‎) (pronounced "cha-meh-NAY") {{lived|1939}} is a mass murderer who is the [[Dictator|Supreme Leader]] of [[Iran]], serving since June 4<sup>th</sup>, 1989, the day after [[Ruhollah Khomeini]]'s death. He was once the President of Iran in the 1980s, before the clergy picked him to succeed Khomeini. The nature of his job highlights the "[[Islamic]]" part of the "Islamic Republic of Iran" and plays down the "[[republic]]" part: he can overrule any acts of the Iranian legislature and president. As a proponent of revolution, he translated several of [[Sayyid Qutb]]'s most important volumes into Persian.<ref>http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2011/01/iran_the_muslim_brotherhood_an.php</ref> He lacks Khomeini's charisma or clerical standing, and compensates by being something of a recluse, keeping himself mostly detached from day-to-day politics, giving no press conferences or interviews, and leaving the Iranian President as the face of the Islamic Republic. This is partly to maintain the appearance of democracy, as Khamenei privately admitted, during his feud with [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]], that he does not want to interfere with procedural democracy and wants to avoid at least appearing like an autocrat to the average Iranian.

Despite all the bluster of Iran getting [[nuke]]s (or having nukes; nobody seems to make up their minds anymore), Khamenei has issued a [[fatwa]] saying the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons was forbidden under Islam in Iran. However, one should be reminded that this fatwa could be read as contradicting with the literal Quranic interpretation of Sura 8:60 which states "''And prepare against them '''whatever you are able of''' power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged''". The Islamic Republic has since signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, something only [[Israel]], [[India]], and [[Pakistan]] have not done in the region. 
[[File:Vladimir Putin in Iran 16-17 October 2007-1.jpg|thumb|right|165px|The {{wpl|Bizarro World}} version of a meeting between [[Bill Clinton]] and the [[Dalai Lama]].]]

==Uncomfortable truths==
He hates criticism directed at him, however. According to law, "spreading libel against officials, institutions, organizations and individuals in the country or insulting legal or real persons who are lawfully respected, even by means of pictures or caricatures" is not allowed. Therefore, opposition journalists Ahmad Zeidabadi, Mohsen Sazegara, Mohammad Nourizad, and Akbar Ganji were arrested and investigated for spreading critical articles containing unproven charges against Khamenei's policies as the leader and some organizations. He once rejected a 2000 bill presented by the Iranian parliament that aimed to reform the country's press law, and the Guardian Council (which approves of parliamentary candidates) disqualified thousands of 2004 electoral parliamentary candidates who wanted freedom of the press.

==Big Turban==
Just so you know he fully lives up to the "Supreme Leader" title, we will count the ways. He has a shitstorm of commissars stationed in strategic posts throughout government bureaucracies, dedicated to inspecting and observing the administrations; it's how he knew who to disqualify of all those candidates mentioned above. The leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, a hardline agency of Iranian Muslims, are directly appointed by, and publicly deferential to Khamenei. They have been rising rapidly and alarmingly, to the point where they've achieved status as a [[Deep state|state-within-a-state]], with their own army, navy, air force, subordinate militias, and political wing. Largely due to [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad|the Dinner Jacket]]'s ridiculousness, the Guards are now the second anchor in the Iranian regime, just after the Supreme Leader. The weak, conservative-dominated parliament is headed by Khamenei loyalist Ali Larijani, whose brother, Sadegh Larijani, also a Khamenei loyalist, is appointed as the head of the judiciary system. Most glaringly, he played a part in Ahmadinejad's bogus landslide 2009 re-election by encouraging the Guards to issue fuck-all on the protesters. Nevertheless, he's had to slap Ahmadinejad every so often when the latter proved too damn dumb for his tastes.

==Relationship to Rouhani==
Following the election of Hassan Rouhani, Khamenei's been uncharacteristically tolerant of the attempts at [[diplomacy]] that Rouhani's been spearheading with the [[West]]. He has indicated he didn't like Rouhani's direct phone call with [[Barack Obama]], but he's stayed away from doing anything else. In fact, he actually ''endorsed'' Rouhani for the presidency, preferring the moderate to the hardliners surrounding him, which is rather smart of Khamenei, since Iran is suffering from economic sanctions directed by the West. He needs whatever silver lining he can get so Iran is free of economic turmoil, and Rouhani is that silver lining. He's said he trusts Rouhani enough to give the latter full authority to negotiate on Iran's nuclear program with America. We are not looking forward to the future if the diplomacy doesn't work out.

==Beef with Israel==
Khamenei has continued the long-standing policy of funding anti-[[Israel]] groups, particularly the fellow [[Shiite]] [[Hezbollah]] and hence high-ranking Hezbollah members have sung his praises.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20071013190851/http://memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1539.htm</ref> He is also fairly unambiguous with the "''marg bar'' Israel" (literally: Death to Israel).<ref>http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/22/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-of-iran-urges-islamic-unity/</ref><ref>http://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-khamenei-hails-his-people-for-demanding-death-to-america-and-israel/</ref><ref>https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei</ref> And whoever operates his Twitter account said the following in 2010: {{cquote|Israel Is A Hideous Entity In the Middle East Which Will Undoubtedly Be Annihilated.<ref>https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/22815824658</ref>}}
The ''[[New York Post]]''<ref>http://nypost.com/2015/08/01/iran-publishes-book-on-how-to-outwit-us-and-destroy-israel/</ref> and the [[Daily Mail|''Daily Heil'']]<ref>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3183527/Iran-s-ayatollah-publishes-416-page-guide-destroying-Israel-rails-against-U-S-Great-Satan-despite-nuclear-deal.html</ref> also claim that Khamenei has written a four hundred-something page book on how best to destroy Israel, so make of that what you want.

As it goes with all religious nuts, and in a feat to embarrass himself even more, [https://www.timesofisrael.com/iranians-parade-missiles-shout-death-to-israel-in-annual-rally/ Khamenei made a prophecy] that the Jewish State of Israel would not live to see year 2040.

==Beef with India==
Despite being close strategic geopolitics allies, the ayatollah angered Indian authorities after making a statement on Muslims in India, stating:

{{cquote|The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah. We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in #Myanmar, #Gaza, #India, or any other place.|||His actual tweet.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/archive/hBg0I Khameini on Twitter (7:46 AM at September 16, 2024)]</ref>}}

This earned the ire of the Indian government, and they later released a statement several days later encouraging Iranian authorities to check their own record on minorities before criticizing others. While some felt the statement was not incorrect, one must also remember that the Iranian regime is responsible for oppression of minorities in their own nation, and many others pointed out that the ayatollah had neglected to mention the suffering of Muslims in Turkey, Thailand, Russia, China, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.<ref>[https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/cant-be-oblivious-to-the-suffering-that-a-muslim-is-enduring-in-myanmar-gaza-india-ayatollah-ali-khamenei/article68649248.ece/amp/ "MEA ‘strongly’ deplores Ayatollah Khamenei’s remark on Indian Muslims"] - TheHindu</ref>

==See also==
*[[Ruhollah Khomeini]] - his predecessor.

==External links==
*http://www.leader.ir/langs/EN/index.php?p=bio

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}


{{stub|Islam|Islam}}

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