Ali Khamenei

Second Supreme Leader of Iran from 1989 until his assassination on February 28, 2026 in joint US-Israeli airstrikes in Tehran. Khamenei guided Iran through nuclear negotiations, U.S. sanctions, the Arab Spring, the Syrian civil war, and repeated cycles of internal unrest. He expanded the IRGC's power and deepened Iran's axis of resistance network spanning Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. His death opened the most significant political succession crisis in Iran since 1989.