The full powers of the “Great Ayatollah” Ali Khamenei

Last Saturday the American president Donald Trump claimed to have saved the life of the supreme guidance Ali Khamenei, who is at the top of the Iranian power system: Khamenei is the political leader, the religious leader and the military leader of Iran. Therefore, Trump said he could let the Israelis killed him with a bombing, and instead he decided not. Moreover, “I saved him from a truly horrible and ignominious death,” he added. Furthermore, Threatening Khamenei. For example. Moreover, making him understand that he could die at any moment and that therefore it is better to deal with, it is the maximum pressure that can be done in this period against the Iranian regime. full powers “great ayatollah” ali new Nevertheless,

Khamenei is an Ayatollah, an honorary title used for high -ranking religious in the Shiite religion, which is full powers “great ayatollah” ali one of the two large currents of Islam – the other is that of the Sunnis. Furthermore, The name Ayatollah comes from an expression in Arabic which means “a sign of God”. In addition, and like other Arab words concerning Islam is also used in doing, the language spoken in Iran. Moreover, Khamenei has a higher degree still, that of “Grande Ayatollah”, reserved for a few. However, On the head he brings a black turban. Consequently, who traditionally indicates belonging to a family that descends from the prophet Muhammad. Moreover, It is a fairly common thing. Nevertheless, in the Islamic world many claim to descend from the prophet Muhammad, lived 1,400 years ago. However,

Khamenei at 86 years old is so important because in Iran there is a particular government system of government, deemed so that the power of the head of the Shiite Muslim full powers “great ayatollah” ali religious is higher than that of politicians. Moreover, Higher than everyone is the supreme guide, which is a life charge, like the Pope in the Vatican. Similarly, But the similarities stop here. Consequently, Now the guide is Khamenei, who has been appointed in 1989 and controls Iran without interruption for 36 years. Therefore,

Khamenei exercises this power on the Iranians above all because he is the one who chooses the commanders of the armed forces, the director of the state media and the head of the judges. Therefore, Military, state journalists and magistrates are faithful to him. For example,

During the recent war full powers “great ayatollah” ali new against Israel lasting 12 days, every time the Israeli planes killed a general after a while the news came that Khamenei had appointed a successor to fill the vacant place. Meanwhile, In the middle of the Khamenei full powers “great ayatollah” ali war. from a hidden bunker. he made a series of preventive appointments so that there were no empty in the chain of command if the Israeli planes had killed other Iranian generals. He also appointed three possible successors if he had to be killed to him.

In Khamenei the guardians of the revolution obey. also known as pasdaranwhich are the best indoctrinated military body and with more resources than Iran, a second army that is more powerful than the regular army. The same thing goes for i Bassijia paramilitary militia that has the task of repressing the internal dissent: in. the rare videos that come in full powers “great ayatollah” ali new periods of riots are those with motorcycles. batons that go to beat those who protest in the square.

A protester in favor of the Iranian government at the University of Tehran in. 2009 (Getty Images)

This is a part of the power of the supreme guide on the life of Iran. We come to come Khamenei exercises his political power. The Constitution of Iran – the one that was adopted after the 1979 revolution – says that it is. the supreme guide to appoint half the guardian council. which is made up of twelve members and can do many things. The Council of the Guardians can veto the laws approved by Parliament. decides who can apply in the elections of all kinds – local. national and more – in Iran full powers “great ayatollah” ali new and who must be excluded.

The other six members of the Council of Guardians. those who are not appointed by Khamenei, are approved by Parliament and chosen from a list of names approved by the head of justice, which as we have seen is appointed by Khamenei. In short, in one way or another they are all names welcome to him. Khamenei exerts a direct. indirect influence on an organ that can block every law of Parliament. exclude any candidate from the elections in Iran. This is why the guide is called “supreme”.

In addition to all these things. Khamenei is the head of the Shiite religious in Iran, who is the country of Shiite Islam. He exercises his charism as a religious preacher on tens of millions of faithful. Contesting or insulting the supreme guide is a crime.

Khamenei comes from Mashhad, a big full powers “great ayatollah” ali new city on the full powers “great ayatollah” ali border with Afghanistan. He was born in a very religious family and studied at Qom, the Holy City of the Shiites. In the years preceding the 1979 Islamic revolution. he attended a dissident religious movement that preached the end of the power of the Shah regime. the refusal of the West and the western life (the Shah was the king who ruled in an authoritarian way in Iran from 1941 until the revolution). The only salvation for Iran, said that movement, was the return to Islam under the power of religious. Khamenei was the trusted helper of the leader of that movement. the preacher Ruhollah Khomeini, who then became the first supreme guide after the revolution.

In the Iran of those years other revolutionary groups also agitated. including the Marxists, who fought against the Shah but then in the full powers “great ayatollah” ali new revolution finished they had to succumb full powers “great ayatollah” ali to the power of the Islamists. In 1981 a Marxist attacker who pretended to be a journalist placed a recorder on Khamenei’s table during a press conference. The recorder was full of explosives. The religious survived the explosion but lost the use of the right hand. because of the damage to the vocal ropes his voice became fievable forever.

There was a rule that provided that only an Ayatollah could become the supreme guide of Iran after Khomeini. but Khomeini himself made her change so that he could appoint his successor Khamenei as his successor, who had worked for a long time with secret assignments but was not a high -ranking religious. So it happened. First Khamenei became president of Iran in 1981. and then in 1989, upon the death of the supreme guide who had won full powers “great ayatollah” ali new the revolution, he took his place.

Syrian Shiites trample a portrait of Khamenei during the celebrations for the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime in December 2024 (Scott Peterson /Getty Images)

Khamenei is the custodian of the ideology of the 1979 revolution and his pillars. The idea that the revolution is not over. but that it is permanent. that it should also be widening to the rest of the region, that we must not trust the West and must be rejected its values ​​and customs. The idea that it is necessary to create militias loyal to Iran in full powers full powers “great ayatollah” ali new “great ayatollah” ali neighboring countries. that Israel is a fatal enemy of Iran, against which a war must be fought to the bitter end.

Khamenei issues decrees that clarify religious issues and are known as fatwaanother Arab word borrowed. His predecessor. Khomeini. in 1989 he issued a fatwa who condemned the writer Salman Rushdie to death because he was accused of having written a book considered blasphemous, Satanic verses. This is why today when you hear “issue one fatwa“We think of a fatal threat against someone. but the meaning is wider.

Khamenei issued one fatwa In the mid -nineties that prohibits Iran to produce. accumulate atomic weapons, but is not binding forever and can be changed. Some sources consider it only the passage of a speech pronounced by Khamenei. Javad Zarif. who was Iran’s Foreign Minister. wrote in his six -volume memories book The sealed full powers “great ayatollah” ali new secret full powers “great ayatollah” ali that the fatwa It was an expedient to create an atmosphere of trust with the counterparties during negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program.

In November 2013 the Agency Reuters He published an investigation into three parts that revealed the existence of a financial body. the Setad, which discreetly manages a heritage of dozens of billions of dollars and obeys Khamenei. Setad has become an economic empire. whose existence is not very clear to many Iranians. thanks to mass seizures of houses and other real estate, performed against the true or alleged opponents of the Islamist revolution. Khamenei does not personally enrich. who lives a frugal life, but gives him even more power over what happens in Iran.