Ali Khamenei

Ali Hosseini Khamenei (in Persian , سید علی حسینی خامنهای ( ? · I ) ), born on July 17, 1939 in the city of Mashhad , ^one is now supreme leader of Iran , leader of the ruling class clerical conservative Islamic their Country and “source of emulation” ( marŷa’ ) of the twelfth-century Shiism .

President of Iran between 1981 and 1989, and Supreme Leader since being appointed to succeed Ayatollah Khomeini in that position in June 1989, is recognized as one of the three figures that have marked the trajectory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, being the other two Khomeini himself, the founder of the Islamic Republic , and Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani . ² In 2010, Forbes magazine ranked him as the 26th “most powerful person in the world”. ³

Biography

Family life

Married and with six children, Ayatollah Khamenei descends from a clerical family from Tafresh , settled in Tabriz . ⁴ Ali Khamenei is the second of eight brothers, two of whom are also Ulema.

His older brother Mohammad is a former member of the Council of Constitutional Experts and chairs the Sadra Islamic Wisdom Foundation . His younger brother Hadí is an influential member of the reformist Assembly of Clergy Combatants , has been several times deputy in the Parliament , and was editor of the reformist newspaper Hayât-e No , closed in 2003 by order of the Special Court of the Clergy. ⁵ His sister Badri Hosseini Khamenei was the wife of Sheikh Ali Tehrani revolutionary ulema. Both were part of the armed opposition organization Mujahideen of the People of Iran , until 1995 when they returned to Iran from their Iraqi exile . His younger brother Hasan Khamenei is in charge of the Commission for the Follow-up of Administrative Offenses of the Ministry of Petroleum. ⁶

One of the daughters of Ali Khamenei is the daughter-in-law of Mohammad Golpayeganí, director of the Supreme Leader’s Office since 1989. ⁷ His son Moŷtabá Khamenei is son-in-law of Gholamali Haddad Adel , former Speaker of Parliament , member of the State Interest Discernment Council, Of the Academy of the Persian Language and member of the High Council of the Cultural Revolution. ⁸ His son Mostafa is the son-in-law of Ayatollah Joshvaqt, a member of the High Council of the Cultural Revolution in the early years of the Islamic Revolution.

Childhood and formation

Ali Khamenei was raised with great simplicity and austerity. From his childhood he followed a traditional curriculum of Islamic and literary studies under the supervision of his father and other clerics. After attending the Islamic seminaries in Mashhad, he made a pilgrimage to Najaf , where he studied for several months until, after several months, his father forced him to return to Iran. ¹ Between 1958 and 1964, Khamenei continued his studies in the seminaries ofQom , where he benefited from the teachings of ulemas of great prestige, as the grand ayatollahs Seyyed Hossein Boroujerdi and Allamé Tabataba’i and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , who in those Years was beginning to stand out for his political activism against the modernist projects of the Shah .

In 1964 he is forced to return to Mashhad to take care of his father, who has lost sight of an eye because of cataracts . In Mashhad he continued to study until 1968, in addition to beginning to teach for the younger seminarians. ^{Referring to Fig.}

Khamenei dominates Persian and Arabic , in addition to speaking less fluently the Azeri Turk , his father’s mother tongue. He has translated from Arabic into Persian several books, including the influential theoretical works Islamist Sayyid Qutb . Like many other students of his time, Ali Khamenei became much more involved in political militancy than in religious studies. ¹⁰ In his youth, Ali Khamenei was very fond of poetry and even music, and he frequented the literary circles of Mashhad, and his most outstanding poets like Mehdí Ajaván-e Salés and Mohammad-Reza Shafií Kadkani . ^eleven

Political struggle against the monarchical regime

Although Ali Khamenei appears as disciple of Ayatollah Khomeini in matters of fiqh , theological principles, politics and revolutionary activism, he affirms that the first sparks of his combat against the monarchic regime were received from Navvab Safaví , who in 1952 organized with his group Fedayeen of Islam an enlightened speech in Mashhad at the same school Soleyman Jan in which he studied Khamenei, speech in which he tried to revive Islam and the enforcement of his mandates, and showed his opposition to the Pahlevi regime and to the United Kingdom , Accusing them of false and traitors to the Iranian nation. ¹²

Repression

Ali Khamenei was arrested for the first time on June 2, 1963, and was released the following day. On 5 June of the same year Ayatollah Khomeini was arrested, resulting in a massive and bloody protest movement. Khamenei was then again arrested in the city of Biryand , and held for 10 days. At the end of January 1964 he was arrested by SAVAK after giving a speech in Kerman , and was imprisoned in solitary confinement for two months in Tehran . In 1965, the persecution of SAVAK for his Islamic thought classes led him into hiding. Between the 1960s and 1970s he went back to prison several times, in a pre-revolutionary environment in which, in the face of government repression, different armed groups emerged, and the clergymen saw an increase in the audience listening to their increasingly politicized preaching. Arrested in January 1975, he was held in solitary confinement until the autumn of that year. In March 1978, he was again arrested and exiled to Iranshahr (in Sistan and Baluchistan ) until the fall. On the eve of the fall of the Pahlevi regime, Khamenei was summoned by Khomeini to join the Islamic Revolution Council, along with figures such as Morteza Motahharí , Mohammad Beheshti and Rafsanyaní , and in March contributed to the founding of the Islamic Republic Party . ¹

After the triumph of the Revolution

Since the triumph of the revolution , Ali Khamenei has held numerous positions: in 1979, Deputy Minister of Defense, head of the newly formed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ( Pasdaran ) and director of the Friday prayer in Tehran. In 1980, representative of the people of Tehran in the Islamic Consultation Parliament and delegate of Ayatollah Khomeini to the Higher Defense Council (his active presence on the war front was frequent in the wake of the invasion of Iranian territory in September 1980 by the Regime of Saddam Hussein ). ¹
In June 1981, after declaring the People’s Mujahideen organization in the war against the new regime, Khamenei was the victim of an attack at a press conference, with an explosive camouflaged in a cassette recorder. Khamenei narrowly saved his life and forever lost the use of his right arm ¹³ . ¹⁴ Following the assassination in August of President Rayaí, Khamenei was elected to succeed him by an overwhelming majority in elections held in October, becoming the first cleric to take the post.

In his investiture speech, Khamenei pledged to eliminate “deviations, liberalism and leftism influenced by the United States.” ¹⁵ The new regime was faced with vigorous opposition from various sectors, both peaceful and violent (with assassinations, guerrilla warfare and insurrections). Both before and during the Khamenei presidency, state repression was brutal throughout the 1980s, killing thousands of simple members of insurgent groups, often summarily tried by revolutionary tribunals . ¹⁶

After the expulsion of the Iraqi army from Iran in 1982, Khamenei was with Prime Minister Mir-Hosein Musaví one of the main opponents of Ayatollah Khomeini’s decision to counterattack by invading Iraqi territory. ¹⁷

In 1985, Ali Khamenei was re-elected for a second presidential term, obtaining 85.66% of the total votes cast.

In 1989, after being forced to resign his post the Grand Ayatollah ( Ayatollah-ol-Ozma , آیتالله العظما ) Hussein-Ali Montazeri for criticizing the tortures and executions in prisons, Khomeini appointed Khamenei as director of public prayer of the Friday in Tehran.

Throughout the 1980s, Khamenei contributed to the country’s leadership as it went through the harsh war against Iraq, which allowed it to develop close ties with the increasingly powerful Revolutionary Guard. President Khamenei was known for his remarkable interest in military, budgetary, and administrative affairs. ¹³

Supreme Leadership of the Islamic Republic

The notion of the tutelage of a faqih or Islamic jurist (in Persian, ولی فقیه / vali-e faqih /, or / velayat-e faqih /) on the government had been developed by Ayatollah Khomeini in a series of conferences published later in Book form ^{18 19} The Constitution of Iran termed as “Leader”, “Guide” or “Caudillo” (Persian Rahbar : رهبر ) to alfaquí exercising such supervision over the Islamic state, ²⁰ function was performed by Ayatollah Khomeini himself from the Triumph of the Islamic revolution until his death on June 3, 1989. A day later, the Assembly of Leadership Experts appointed Ali Khamenei (by a two-thirds majority) to take office, having rejected the formation of a Directory of three people (Ayatollah Meshkiní, Musaví Ardabilí and Khamenei), as well as the Leadership of the great Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Golpayganí. ^{21 22}

Designation of Khamenei and controversy over religious authority

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic demanded that the Supreme Leader be marŷa ( marŷa’-e taqlid , مرجع تقلید “source of emulation”), a degree that had not reached Khamenei (not even Ayatollah). However, Ayatollah Khomeini’s disagreement with the candidates available to succeed him led him to designate in April 1989 a commission to reform the Constitution in the sense that the Leader was required to be only an expert in Islamic jurisprudence and to possess the ” Administration systems’. ^{15 23} The political elite of the Islamic Republic closed ranks around the designated and their status passed from hoyyatoleslam to ayatollah overnight . The constitutional amendment had not yet been submitted to a plebiscite, so that at first the Assembly of Experts granted a provisional title to Khamenei, until the new fundamental law came into force.

The status of marŷa of Khamenei is controversial for some people. In 1994, after the great Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Arakí passed away, the Association of Teachers of the Seminary of Qom declared to Khamenei like new marŷa . However, four ‘great ayatollahs’ belonging to the Iranian opposition refused to recognize that rank: Mohammad Shirazí, then in house arrest for his opposition to Khomeini; Hosein Ali Montazeri ; Hasan Tabatabaí Qomí and Yasuboddín Rastegarí. ^{24 25}

In spite of this controversy, Ali Khamenei himself is the author of a fable that decrees that the criterion of vali-ye faqih in matters related to Islam prevail over that of the whole people. ²⁶ As a Marya’ (religious reference), Khamenei has issued, like other religious who have reached their hierarchy, fakes in response to questions posed by Shiite Muslim faithful around the world “on all issues, from Islamic law to Basketball betting, study aid for children cared for by non-Muslims, use of motorcycles by women or stay in hotels frequented by Buddhists. He has decreed against the use of ties and listening to certain types of music, but not against nose piercing, as long as they are covered. ²⁷

General orientation of Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader

The leadership of Khamenei has differed greatly from that of Khomeini. While continued with the policy of Khomeini consisting of “keep in balance groups against each other, making sure no faction monopolizes too much power , ” ^{13 28} lacking the charisma and clerical status of Khomeini, Khamenei has developed various networks of influence . First, within the armed forces; Then between the clergymen of the great religious foundations (the bonyad ) and the Islamic seminaries of Qom and Mashhad. ²⁸ Political scientist Vali Nasr states that spend Leadership, retained many of the powers of the presidency, becoming a “powerful supervisor of the Iranian political scene.” The agents under Khamenei influence the various Iranian institutions, sometimes in conflict with one another: “Parliament, the Presidency, the Judiciary, the Revolutionary Guards, the regular army, the intelligence services, police agencies, the elite Clerical, Friday prayer directors and much of the media, “as well as various” non-governmental foundations, organizations, councils, seminars and business groups. ” ¹³

In his speeches, Khamenei usually mention common reasons of the 1979 revolution and the current problems of the Islamic world: social justice , national independence , self - sufficiency , government based on Islamic principles and resolute opposition to Israel and the United States . He has not traveled outside Iran since joining the post of Supreme Leader, although he did travel to Libya during his time as President of the Islamic Republic. ²⁹

Guidance in national politics

Khamenei, as Supreme Leader, is commander in chief of all the armed forces of Iran, and designates the heads of the Judicial Power and of the national radiotelevisión IRIB.

Economic management

Ali Khamenei has encouraged the privatization program carried out by the various governments of Iran, ³⁰ in particular by amending article 44 of the Iranian Constitution, which reserved for state management the basic infrastructure of the country. ³¹ Khamenei has shown his support for President Ahmadinejad’s administration , saying that no one has the right to blame his government for economic problems and urging people to be content and to avoid wasting money without worrying about the economic sanctions imposed on Iran. ^{32 33}

Islamization of the universities

In a 2002 speech, Ayatollah Khamenei expressed his dissatisfaction with the action of the Reformed Minister of Science and Education Mostafa Moin for allowing students to carry out activities that he considered to be contrary to Islam, such as studying and performing music and other arts, traveling to Non-Islamic countries and non-religious travel. Khamenei demanded that tighter control be applied in this regard. ^{3. 4}

Science and technology

Ali Khamenei encourages scientific progress in his speeches. It was among the first Islamic religious to allow stem cell research (provided it was used to create parts, not entire human beings), as well as therapeutic cloning. ^{35 36} In 1999, Khamenei issued a fatwa on assisted reproduction that contradicted that previously promulgated by Gad El-Hak Ali Gad El-Hak of the Egyptian Islamic University of Al-Azhar in the sense of liberalization. Khamenei decreed the legitimate intervention of a third party, either by donation of sperm or egg, or a surrogate mother . ³⁷ This led to a rise in “fertility tourism” in Iran. ³⁸

Khamenei has also expressed his conviction of the importance of nuclear technology of peaceful use, since the oil and gas reserves are not eternal . ³⁹

Fetua against nuclear weapons

Ayatollah Khamenei is the author of a religious decree according to which it is forbidden in Islam to produce, store or use nuclear weapons . ⁴⁰ The fake was quoted in official statements by the Iranian government at a meeting in Vienna with the International Atomic Energy Agency in August 2005. ⁴¹

Religious minorities: the Baha’is

The period of Khamenei has been characterized by a series of measures that show intolerance towards minority groups. The Bahá’í community of Iran, the largest non-Islamic religious minority in the country, suffers in this respect to a greater extent as it is not recognized as a legitimate confession , unlike Zoroastrianism , Christianity and Judaism . Following the persecution suffered during the first decade of the Islamic Republic, under the leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei violent actions have tended to be replaced by a strategy of social exclusion and defamation in the state media, as expressed in the document presented to the UN in 1993 as a secret official memorandum, and which bears the signature of Ayatollah Khamenei. The Iranian authorities deny the authenticity of the document, known as the Golpayganí Memorandum , although the prescribed measures are applied in Iran, such as the exclusion of the university system, and the detention of political leaders of community leaders. ^{42 43 44}

Media

The Iranian Constitution attributes to the Supreme Leader the power to designate and remove the director of state broadcasting IRIB . ⁴⁵ In 2000, Khamenei seconded the veto of the Guardian Council to a parliamentary reform of the press law, claiming that the current law had prevented the enemies of Islam from seizing the press. ⁴⁶ That same year, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists called it “one of the ten greatest enemies of the press and freedom of expression”. ⁴⁷

Plan of Increase of the Security in Society

Ali Khamenei has strongly supported ⁴⁸ the vast series of police operations launched since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s first presidential term under the name of “Plan for Increasing Security in Society” ( طرح ارتقاء امنیت اجتماعی ), ⁴⁹ which has markedly marked Iranian social life, as well as stir up lively legal disputes by attributing legislative powers not provided for in Iran’s legal system to the police forces and to the High Council for Cultural Revolution, the first speaker of the plan. ⁵⁰ Among the aspects of the plan are violent interventions against individuals exposed publicly, without trial, as “rabble”; ⁵¹systematization of the dressing control of pedestrians by specific patrols; ⁵² approaching customers at the exit of clothing stores and closing them; ^{53 54} increase in the control of kinship between persons of different sex in public spaces; ⁵⁵ closure of photographic studios, cafes, cyber cafes, etc .; ⁵⁶ opening of court files for inappropriate dress of women; ^{57 content} control of mobile phones (even officially denied), ⁵⁸ etc.

Woman

In July 2007, Khamenei criticized Iranian women’s rights activists and CEDAW , stating: “In our country … some activists, and some men as well, have been trying to play by Islamic standards to conform to international conventions Concerning women. This is bad”. Khamenei made these statements two days after being condemned feminist militant Delaram Ali to 34 months in jail and 10 lashes. ⁵⁹ In relation to women’s dress, Ayatollah Khamenei advocates for the compulsion of hijab . ⁶⁰

Elections

As Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei influences the Iranian electoral processes through the appointment of half of the members of the Council of Guardians, who are in charge of ratifying or vetoing all the candidacies. In the February 2004 legislative elections, the Guardian Council quashed thousands of candidates, including those of eighty outgoing deputies - one of them the vice-president of the chamber - many of the reformist parliamentarians and all Iran Islamic, party of the then president Khatami. As a result of these vetoes, the conservatives won 70% of the seats, marking a turning point in Iran’s political evolution, as the elections ended the reform movement initiated by Mohammad Khatami since he was elected by majority Overwhelming in May 1997. ⁶¹

In the 2005 presidential election, Khamenei’s allusions to the importance of fighting corruption, fidelity to the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, and the superiority of engineers’ intelligence and dynamism were interpreted by some as a subtle support for The candidacy of Mahmud Ahmadinejad (doctor in traffic engineering ). Since the 2005 election, Khamenei expressed his support for President Ahmadinejad with a degree of openness and decision very different from what had been his relationship with the reformist president Khatami. ^fifteen

Crisis after the election of 2009

Khamenei has taken a firm stand against what has been described as “the biggest internal challenge in thirty years” to the leaders of the Islamic Republic: the post-election protests of 2009. The Iranian leader has stated that he will not reconsider the results Or give in to popular pressure for the controversial re-election to the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ⁶² “Thank God, the presidential election was carried out with correctness, and the issues that are now raised must follow their legal course.” ⁶³ In a public appearance to address the Friday prayers on June 19, he expressed his support for the announced victor and accused foreign powers - including the United Kingdom, Israel and the United States - of encouraging protests over the election results. ⁶⁴ Khamenei described the United Kingdom in particular as “the most vile” of the enemies, ⁶⁵ asserting that the Iranian people would respond with “iron fist” in the event of Western powers intruding on Iran’s internal affairs. ⁶⁶

In mid-August 2009, an anonymous group of former reform lawmakers called on the Assembly of Experts to examine Ali Khamenei’s training for the Supreme Leader’s position. ⁶⁷ A week later, another anonymous letter was published on behalf of a group of ulama, in which Ali Khamenei was described as “dictator” and demanded his removal. The letters have been regarded as a blow to Khamenei’s reputation as “neutral arbiter and personality of Islam,” ⁶⁸ as well as an “unprecedented challenge to the most powerful man in the country”, although his power in fact did not suffer the same way. The New York Times reflected how “the death of Khamenei” had begun to appear on the walls of Tehran, almost unimaginable a short time ago. ⁶⁸

Orientation in international politics

According to the Constitution of Iran , Khamenei has “direct responsibility” in the international policy of the Islamic Republic, which “can not be carried out without its direct approval and participation”. It has its own foreign policy team “including two former foreign ministers”, independent of the presidency, and “can at any time enter the political process and correct an incorrect measure or decision”. ²⁹

Opposition to the United States

The disdain manifested by Khamenei toward the United States and, in general, the West, in their speeches, whether foreign affairs, agriculture or education, has been recurrent. ¹⁵ According to Khamenei, it is “evident that the conflict and confrontation” between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States. Are “natural and inevitable,” as Washington “seeks to establish a global dictatorship and promote its particular interests by subjugating other nations and trampling on their rights.” ⁶⁹ But more recently it has declared possible a possible rapprochement even though “the rupture of ties with the United States is part of our basic orientation” and that “any relationship would provide Americans with the possibility of infiltrating Iran, paving the way for their Intelligence services and their spies “:” We have never said that relationships would be cut off forever. The day that maintaining relations with the United States is beneficial to the Iranian nation, I will certainly be the first to approve them. ” ⁷⁰

Following the attacks of 11 September 2001 , Khamenei condemned the attacks and their perpetrators, calling for condemnation of terrorist activities around the world, while vehemently warning against military intervention in Afghanistan . ⁷¹

Khamenei warned on June 4, 2006 that if Iran were attacked by the United States it would disrupt the energy flow of the Persian Gulf (around 20% of the world’s daily supply of oil crosses the Strait of Hormuz off the Iranian coast ), And insisted that Iran would not waive its right to produce nuclear fuel. ⁷²

On September 14, 2007, Ayatollah Khamenei predicted that George W. Bush and other US officials would one day be tried in an international criminal court for the invasion of Iraq . ⁷³ A few weeks later, Khamenei blamed Washington for the insecurity and “blind terrorism” reigning in Iraq after the invasion. ⁷⁴

On March 21, 2009, a day after unexpectedly offering Iran President Barack Obama “a fresh start” in diplomatic relations, Khamenei was skeptical of what he called a mere rhetorical change, adding, “We will observe and judge … If you change, we will change our behavior. ” ⁷⁵ In June 2011, Khamenei questioned the United States’ “terrorism” speech by reversing terms; Accusing terrorists of Washington’s actions in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and praising the struggle for territorial liberation by Palestinian militant groups. ⁷⁶ In this same sense, as early as 2006, Khamenei had discredited to lecture on “human rights and fight against terrorism” to “who has prisons like Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib “. ⁷⁷

Palestinian-Israeli conflict

Khamenei is a firm opponent of the state of Israel and Zionism . In 2000 their statements were echoed: “this cancerous tumor must be removed from the region” and “no one will allow a handful of nasty thugs and flocks from London, Washington and Moscow to rule the Palestinians .” On the same occasion he stated that “Palestinian refugees must return, and Muslims, Christians and Jews may choose a government for themselves, excluding immigrant Jews .” ⁷⁸

In 2005, Khamenei replied to President Ahmadinejad’s quipped phrase about “erasing from the page of time the occupying regime of Al-Quds ” by clarifying that “the Islamic Republic has never threatened or threatened any country”. ⁷⁹ Khamenei’s main foreign policy adviser, Ali Akbar Velayatí , also refused to attend the 2006 Holocaust conference in Tehran, calling the Holocaust “genocide” and “historical reality.” ⁸⁰

In a sermon delivered in Tehran on Friday, 19 September 2008, Khamenei described as “wrong, irrational, futile and absurd to say that we are friends of the Israeli people”, forbidding further discussion on the issue. ⁸¹ It was a refutation of statements by Vice-President Esfandiar Rahim Mashai that Iran’s conflict with Israel did not contradict friendship with the Israeli nation. ⁸²

Written work

One of the works on Ali Khamenei is a book of his memoirs. The publishing house Andisheh Sharq ( Islamoriente ) publishes in Spanish the first book of memories and the biography of Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

This book titled “The Most Beautiful Memories of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran” and written by Yafar Hamzeh, allows Spanish-speaking peoples to have a knowledge of Khamenei’s personality.

In this book you can read the memoirs and memorials that keep authorities of the Islamic Republic from the life and personality of the Iranian Leader at different stages of his life.

This work translated by an Islamic group. ^{83 84}

Original creation

Global exhibition of Islamic thought in the Koran ( طرح کلی اندیشه اسلامی در قرآن ). From the depth of the prayer ( از ژرفای نماز ). Discourse on Patience ( گفتاری در باب صبر ). Four fundamental books on the biographical evaluation of the transmitters of hadith ( چهار کتاب اصلی علم رجال). The wilāya ( ولایت ). The Imam Sadeq ( پیشوای صادق ). Unity and partisanship ( وحدت و تحزب ). The art in the thought of Ayatollah Khamenei ( هنر از دیدگاه آیتالله خامنهای ).

Answers to religious consultations ( اجوبة الاستفتائات ). Understand religion ( درست فهمیدن دین ). The struggle in the life of the Imam ( عنصر مبارزه در زندگی ائمه ). The denial of servitude if it is not God, spirit of tawhid ( روح توحید, نفی عبودیت غیر خدا). The Need for Return to the Qur’an ( ضرورت بازگشت به قرآن ). The life of Imam Saŷŷad ( سیره امام سجاد ). The Imam Reza and the succession ( امام رضا و ولایتعهدی ). The cultural invasion ( تهاجم فرهنگی ). What was said about wilâya ( حدیث ولایت ).

Notes