Biography of Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader Killed in US-Israeli Strike
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been reported killed in a strike by the United States and Israel in Tehran. Khamenei was long known as the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.
Ali Khamenei was born in the holy city of Mashhad on 19 April 1939. He was the second son of Sayyed Javad Khamenei, a humble and poor cleric who taught his family to live simply and humbly. Khamenei received his early education at a maktab, a traditional elementary school of the era, where he learned the alphabet and the Qur’an. He subsequently continued his education at an Islamic school and later pursued theological studies at a seminary in Mashhad.
At the Soleiman Khan and Nawwab religious schools, Ali Khamenei studied logic, philosophy, and Islamic jurisprudence under his father’s supervision and guidance from prominent clerics. From his youth, Khamenei listened to fiery speeches by the courageous cleric Nawwab Safavi, who opposed the Shah’s anti-Islamic policies before becoming a martyr to the Shah’s regime.
In 1962, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei joined the revolutionary followers of Imam Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, who opposed the Shah’s regime as pro-American and anti-Islamic. Khamenei dedicated himself to this cause for 16 years until the Shah’s regime eventually fell. In recognition of his bravery, Khomeini honoured him with missions to deliver secret messages from Ayatollah Milani and other clerics regarding tactics to expose the nature of the Shah’s regime.
Throughout his revolutionary journey, Khamenei endured arrest and exile. After his release from prison, he was forbidden from delivering sermons or holding classes. He was also exiled for three years after his clandestine activities were discovered by SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police. Upon his release, he consistently continued political and religious activities, participating in mass demonstrations throughout Iran.
Khamenei assumed leadership of the Islamic Republic in 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the charismatic leader who had led the Islamic Revolution a decade earlier. Before becoming supreme leader, he had led Iran as president through the bloody war with Iraq during the 1980s. The prolonged conflict deepened Khamenei’s distrust of Western nations, particularly the United States, partly because many Iranians were isolated whilst Western countries supported Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The US and Israeli camps previously stated that Khamenei was killed in the Tehran strike. Israeli and American forces allegedly dropped 30 bombs on Khamenei’s residential complex. Prime Minister Netanyahu stated: “For more than three and a half decades, this brutal dictator has spread terror throughout the world whilst oppressing his own people, whilst working tirelessly and relentlessly on plans to destroy Israel.”
US President Donald Trump echoed this sentiment, announcing Khamenei’s death resulting from the Israeli and American strike on Iran. “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead,” Trump stated on his Truth Social media network.
The US and Israel attacked Iranian territory on Saturday (28 February) in an Iranian city. Iranian media also reported that Khamenei’s daughter and granddaughter were killed in the large-scale assault. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards have sworn to retaliate for the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, vowing strong and regrettable consequences for their enemies. “The hand of Iranian national retaliation for heavy, firm, and regrettable punishment of the murderers of the Imam of the Nation will not release them,” the Revolutionary Guards stated in a statement released Sunday (1 March 2026).
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) announced that retaliation operations would target US military and security positions as well as the Zionist Israeli regime broadly with missiles more advanced than those used in Operation True Promise 3. Iran vowed to deliver devastating strikes. IRGC forces stated they are prepared to target fixed and moving enemy positions in the region with Iranian missiles and drones. Earlier, the IRGC announced on Saturday evening that the American vessel MST had been struck by a missile attack from Iran’s Navy.