Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hoseyni Khamenei

Date of Birth: 17.07.1939

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hoseyni Khamenei

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hoseyni Khamenei is an Iranian politician and spiritual leader of Azerbaijani descent. He served as President of Iran from 1981 to 1989 and was one of the closest associates of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Since 1989, Khamenei has been the Supreme Leader of Iran.

Place of Birth. Education.

Ali Khamenei was born on July 17, 1939 (24 Tir 1318) in Mashhad and was the second of eight children in his family. He descends from the Sayyid line, the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. His grandfather, Sayyid Hossein, was a prominent cleric in Azerbaijan, particularly in Chiyabaneh and Tabriz, and later moved to Iraq to the holy city of Najaf. His father, Ayatollah Sayyid Javad Hoseyni Khamenei, was a teacher at a Quran school and later became a member of the city council of Mashhad. His mother, the daughter of a Hojatoleslam, came from Yazd. Khamenei's aunt was the wife of Sheikh Mohammad Hiabani, who led a national liberation movement in Iranian Azerbaijan against the rule of the Shah in 1920.

In the Shiite theology academy (Hawza) in Mashhad, he was taught in 1957 by Haj Sheikh Hashem Gazvini and Ayatollah Milani. In 1957, Khamenei moved to the theological school in Najaf and the following year to Qom, where he studied theology until 1964. In Qom, he met Ayatollah Hussein Burujerdi and Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini's radical views had a strong influence on Ali, and he became actively involved against the monarchy. In 1964, Khomeini was expelled from Iran, and Ali was arrested by SAVAK in Birjand but was soon released and returned to Mashhad. From 1963 to 1975, Khamenei was arrested five more times and spent several months in prison.

Islamic Revolution and Presidency.

During the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, he was an activist of the Islamic opposition associated with Ayatollah Khomeini, and during the Islamic Revolution in Iran, he was a member of the Revolutionary Council. From 1981 to 1989, he was the President of Iran, and in 1989 he was elected Supreme Leader of the country by the Assembly of Experts. Khamenei supports Islamic conservatism.

He is regarded as one of the three individuals who have significantly influenced the Islamic Republic of Iran (the other two being Khomeini and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani).

While Khamenei served as Supreme Leader, Iran had several presidents: Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani: 1989-1997, Mohammad Khatami: 1997-2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 2005-2013, Hassan Rouhani: 2013-present.

Time of Consensus in International Relations.

After Barack Obama was elected President of the USA in 2008 (re-elected in 2012) and Hassan Rouhani was elected President of Iran in 2013, a time of consensus in international relations began, particularly with the United States.

With the involvement of Hassan Rouhani, the comprehensive action agreement on the Iranian nuclear program was signed in the summer of 2015. By signing and fulfilling the first conditions of this agreement, a number of international sanctions against Iran were lifted. In particular, Iran gained access to over $100 billion in assets that had been frozen primarily in banks in China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Turkey. Additionally, according to the Central Bank of Iran, nine Iranian banks were included in the SWIFT system.

In early 2016, the President of Iran visited Europe for the first time in 16 years. During this trip, on January 26, 2016, the President of Iran was received by Pope Francis in the Vatican.

Family.

Ali Khamenei married Hodjaste Khamenei in 1964 and has four sons (Mojtaba, Mustafa, Masoud, Masiam) and two daughters (Boshra and Hoda) with her. His son Mojtaba married the daughter of Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, a former Speaker of Parliament. According to Haddad-Adel, Khamenei leads an 'ascetic life'.

Khamenei speaks Persian, Azerbaijani, and Arabic fluently. He speaks some English. He has published several books in Arabic. He is interested in Persian poetry. In his youth, he was passionate about football; today he prefers long hikes in the mountains in his free time.

17.07.2022