RAIA - Key Persons

From the early stages of the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Khamenei played a key role. For instance, as he commanded the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), Ali Khamenei was elected as the Supreme Leader of Iran in 1989. Khamenei is a political figure, where he fought against the Shah that was a close US ally. As a religious cleric, he views Islam as a tool to protect Iran from foreign intervention and an element of internal cohesion. Unlike his predecessor, Khomeini; Khamenei holds a secular intellectualism in his political and religious beliefs that make him an unusual religious leader. Throughout his more than 30 years as a head of state, Khamenei has extended his influence over all aspects of Iranian politics. In order to avoid his uttermost fear of an external power dictating Iran's internal and foreign policy, he has taken key decisions on security and military issues, such as a nuclear programme development. Therefore, Khamenei has the last word in Iran's policies and thus, it is relevant to understand him. Moreover, Khamenei has been flexible by not viewing the fight against foreign powers as a religious one of Christians vs. Muslims. Instead, he wants to portray that the struggle is solely political, it "has nothing to do with churches or Christianity, and the puppet deeds of a few idiotic and mercenary clerics must not be laid at the feet of Christians and their clergy. We Muslims will never commit similar acts in regard to the sanctities of other religions. The struggle between Muslims and Christians on a general level is what the enemies and plotters of these insane displays want, and the Koran instructs us to take the opposite position". Khamenei's stay in Qom led to his religious radicalization, but it also shaped his ideology into secular-based beliefs. However, this is a chapter not widely known and explained, Khamenei was also in contact with secular Iranian intellectuals that opposed the Shah, e.g., the communist writer and philosopher Jalal Al-e Ahmad and the sociologist ‘Ali Shari'ati. Khamenei learnt and adopted the marxist-based revolutionary discourse and beliefs of most of the secular opposition into his governing style and beliefs.