Ali Khamenei, supreme leader. Khamenei, aged 85, succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as Iran’s supreme leader in 1989 and is a former president of Iran. As Iran’s head of state, he is also responsible for the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), long regarded as a key base of his power.
Advertisement
His Early Life, and Education
Born to Seyed Javad Khamenei, an Alim and Mujtahid born in Najaf, and Khadijeh Mirdamadi (daughter of Hashem Mirdamadi ) in Mashhad, Khamenei is the second of eight children. Two of his brothers are also clerics; his younger brother, Hadi Khamenei, is a newspaper editor and cleric.
His elder sister Fatemeh Hosseini Khamenei died in 2015, aged 89. His father was an ethnic Azerbaijani from Khamaneh, while his mother was an ethnic Persian from Yazd. Some of his ancestors are from Tafresh in today’s Markazi Province and migrated from their original home in Tafresh to Khamaneh near Tabriz.
His Political Life, and Presidency
Khamenei was a key figure in the Iranian Revolution in Iran and a close confidant of Ruhollah Khomeini. Since the founding of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei has held many government posts.
Advertisement
Muhammad Sahimi claims that his political career began after the Iranian Revolution, when the former President of Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then a confidant of Khomeini, brought Khamenei into Khomeini’s inner circle. Later on, Hassan Rouhani, then a member of Parliament, arranged for Khamenei to get his first major post in the provisional revolutionary government as deputy defense minister
In his presidential inaugural address, Khamenei vowed to eliminate “deviation, liberalism, and American-influenced leftists”.
His Family, Personal Life, and Facts: Parents, Wife, Children, Age and Health
Khamenei is married to Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, with whom he has six children; four sons (Mostafa, Mojtaba, Masoud, and Meysam) and two daughters (Boshra and Hoda). One of his sons, Mojtaba, married a daughter of Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel.
His eldest son, Mostafa, is married to a daughter of Azizollah Khoshvaght. Another son, Masoud, is married to the daughter of Mohsen Kharazi. He has three brothers, including Mohammad Khamenei and Hadi Khamenei.
His Assets and Net Worth
Officially, Ali Khamenei reportedly lives a modest lifestyle with an estimated net worth estimated at US$95 billion.
Leave a Reply