FILE - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei arrives to vote for the parliamentary runoff elections, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei succeeded the founder of the Islamic Revolution in 1989.
Despite his lack of charisma, Khamenei managed to secure Iran after the 1980s war with Iraq, and has governed the Islamic Republic for more than three decades, far longer than his sole predecessor.
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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
FILE – In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, accompanied by the armed forces commanders, visits an exhibition of the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace achievements, in Iran, Nov. 19, 2023. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks under a portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, in a ceremony meeting a group of officials, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – An unidentified man kisses the hand of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iranian Army Commander Ataollah Salehi, right standing, Major Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, the Commander of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), right bottom, and Culture Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi, second right, attend a ceremony to commemorate those who died in a plane crash in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 10, 2005. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File)FILE – In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to the crowd during his meeting with a large group of laborers in Tehran, Iran, May 10, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – In this photo released by an official website of the Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stands as the army’s air force and air defense staff salute in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 8, 2020. A portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini hangs in the background. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – In this picture released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin greet each other during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, July 19, 2022. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, third right, leads a prayer over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 1, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – In this photo released by the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, speaks with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, center, and the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group Ziad Nakhaleh in their meeting in Tehran, Iran, July 30, 2024. A portrait of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini hangs on the wall. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prays at the grave of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, commemorating the 47th anniversary of his return from exile during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, just outside Tehran, Iran, Jan. 31, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – Iranians wave to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as he arrives in Semnan, Iran, Nov. 8, 2006. (Morteza Farajabadi, ISNA via AP Photo/ File)FILE – In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, welcomes Syrian President Bashar Assad for their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 25, 2019. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, commander of the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, right, greets Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while attending a religious ceremony, in Tehran, Iran, March 27, 2015. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, speaks after giving his official seal of approval to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, as former President Mohammad Khatami, listens, in a ceremony in Tehran, Aug. 3, 2005. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File)FILE – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 19, 2008. (AP photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File)FILE – After delivering his speech, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves as he leaves a conference discussing support for the Palestinians in Tehran, Iran, April 14, 2006. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)FILE – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei looks through binoculars during military manoeuvres by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, near the border with Iraq, Sept. 18, 2004. (AP Photo, File)FILE – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei visits military manoeuvres by the army, in the southwestern province of Khouzestan, Iran, near the border with Iraq, Dec. 8, 2004. (AP Photo, File)FILE – In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei listens to a speaker during a meeting with a group of university students in Tehran, Iran, May 28, 2018. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)FILE – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, foreground, leads an Eid al-Fitr prayer, marking the end of Muslims’ holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)FILE – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks at a commemoration marking the 18th anniversary of death of Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Islamic revolution, in Tehran, Iran, June 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File)FILE – Iranian President Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stands in a military uniform in October 1981. (AP Photo, File)
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