17.06.2025 11:24
Trump rejected Israel's plan to assassinate Iran's religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Although it is known that Israel's recent attacks aimed to eliminate Iran's nuclear capabilities, Netanyahu expressed that these attacks could lead to a regime change in Iran. So, who is the most powerful figure in Iran, the religious leader, what kind of authority does he have, and how powerful is his family?
According to reports in the US press, US President Donald Trump rejected a plan by Israel to assassinate Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The reports stated that Trump opposed this proposal by saying it was "not a good idea."
Additionally, it is known that Israel aims to eliminate Iran's nuclear capacity with its recent attacks. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also mentioned that these attacks could lead to a regime change in Iran. He had previously called on the Iranian people to rise against their rulers.
So, who is the most powerful figure in Iran, the religious leader, what authority does he have, and what role does his family play in the country's politics?
WHO IS AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI?
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been Iran's second religious leader since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, has held this position since 1989.
All of today's young Iranians have lived only under his rule.
Despite the presence of many different power centers in the country's political structure, Khamenei is at the very center of these structures. The religious leader, who has veto power over public policies, can decide who is appointed to which position.
Khamenei, who is the head of state and also the commander-in-chief of the Iranian Armed Forces (including the Revolutionary Guards), possesses nearly unlimited power.
He was born in 1939 in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city.
He was the second child in a family with eight children. His father was a mid-level cleric belonging to the Shia sect.
From a young age, he received Quran education and earned the title of cleric at just 11 years old.
However, like many religious leaders of that time, he also had a political stance alongside his spiritual identity.
An impressive orator, Khamenei joined the opposition movement against the Shah of Iran.
He went underground for years, was imprisoned multiple times, arrested six times by the Shah's secret police, tortured, and exiled.
A year after the Islamic Revolution, he was assigned by the revolution's leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, to deliver Friday sermons in Tehran.
He was elected president in 1981. Following Khomeini's death in 1989, he was appointed as the religious leader in his place.
HOW INFLUENTIAL IS HIS SON MUJTEBA?
Ali Khamenei, who is said to lead a modest life with his wife in a simple residence in Tehran, does not travel abroad very often.
He is known to love gardening and poetry.
It is known that he smoked in his youth and became unable to use his right arm after an assassination attempt in the 1980s.
He has six children, four sons and two daughters, with his wife Mensure Hojasteh Bakirzadeh.
The family generally lives a life away from the media. Verified information about their children's private lives is quite limited.
The most recognized of his sons is the second child, Mujteba.
He is known to be someone with significant influence, being close to his father.
Mujteba studied at the Alevi High School in Tehran, which is attended by the children of the elite in Iran.
Before becoming a cleric, he married the daughter of Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, one of the leading conservative politicians in the country.
At the age of 30, he began his religious education at the Shia Seminary in Qom.
In the mid-2000s, Mujteba's influence in politics became more apparent. However, this role was not openly acknowledged in the media.
After the controversial presidential election in 2004, Mujteba frequently came to the forefront.
The prominent candidate in the election, Mehdi Karroubi, directly accused Mujteba in an open letter to Ayatollah Khamenei of intervening behind the scenes in favor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
From the 2010s onwards, he began to be referred to as one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic. According to some comments, his father sees him as his successor. However, these claims have sometimes been denied by official authorities.
Khamenei is not a king and cannot pass his position on to his son as an inheritance. However, Mujteba is said to have significant influence in the conservative circles surrounding his father and in the Office of the Religious Leadership, which is claimed to be more powerful than constitutional institutions.
WHO ARE HIS OTHER SONS?
The eldest son of the family, Mustafa Khamenei, is married to the daughter of a conservative cleric, Azizullah Hoshvagt. Like his brother Mujteba, Mustafa also served on the front lines during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.
The third child, Masoud Khamenei, was born in 1972. His wife is the daughter of a well-known cleric from the conservative Teachers' Union of Qom Seminary, Mohsin Harazi. She is also the sister of a reformist diplomat, Mohammad Sadik Harazi.
Masoud is a figure who stays away from politics. He is not well-known in public. He previously managed the office that archived and published his father's works. This office also serves an important propaganda function for Khamenei. He was also responsible for compiling his father's biography and memoirs.
The youngest son of the family, Meysam, was born in 1977. Like his three older brothers, he is also a cleric. His wife is the daughter of a wealthy businessman, Mahmoud Lolochiyan, who provided financial support to clerics before the revolution. Meysam also works in the office that preserves and publishes his father's works, along with his brother Masoud.
WHO ARE HIS DAUGHTERS?
There is very little public information about Khamenei's daughters.
Bushra and Hoda are the youngest members of the family. Both were born after the Islamic Revolution.
Bushra, born in 1980, is married to Mohammad-Javad, the son of Gholamhussein Mohammadi Golpayegani, who heads Khamenei's office.
Hoda, born in 1981, is married to Mesbah al-Huda Bagheri Kani, who is a lecturer at Imam Sadiq University and has a background in marketing.