Iran's Supreme Leader Assassinated
The Middle East has been thrown into chaos after a U.S.-Israeli strike killed Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In response, Israel is now striking targets in the heart of Tehran, while Iran has launched retaliatory missile strikes at both Israel and Gulf Arab states. Tehran is expected to name a successor within one or two days amid the escalating conflict.
The position of Supreme Leader, or *Rahbar*, was created in 1979 with the establishment of the Islamic Republic after the overthrow of the Western-backed monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of the Iranian Revolution, became the first to hold the title, transforming Iran into a theocracy and serving as the ultimate political and religious authority until his death in 1989. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been killed, was only the second person to hold the office of Supreme Leader in the history of the Islamic Republic. He was selected by the Assembly of Experts in 1989 to succeed Khomeini. Before ascending to the role, Khamenei served as Iran's president from 1981 to 1989, a period dominated by the brutal Iran-Iraq War. The Supreme Leader holds immense power, acting as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, including the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He has the final say on all major state policies, both foreign and domestic, and appoints the heads of the judiciary, state media, and six of the twelve members of the Guardian Council, a body that vets candidates for public office. Succession falls to the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 elected Islamic jurists, which is now tasked with selecting the third Supreme Leader in the nation's history. In the interim, a temporary council composed of the president, the head of the judiciary, and a cleric from the Guardian Council will handle the leader's duties. The U.S. and Iran were once allies, with Washington supporting the Shah's monarchy and even helping to launch Iran's nuclear program in the 1950s as part of the "Atoms for Peace" initiative. Relations ruptured after the 1979 revolution and the subsequent 444-day hostage crisis at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Similarly, Iran under the Shah maintained close, albeit informal, ties with Israel, viewing the country as a strategic, non-Arab ally against shared threats like the Soviet Union and Arab nationalism. This relationship dissolved after the 1979 revolution, when Khomeini's government severed all ties and declared Israel an "enemy of Islam."
