Live updates: Israel-Iran strikes, attacks on Tehran, Trump demands ‘unconditional surrender,’ Iranian supreme leader warning

As the conflict between Israel and Iran intensifies, both US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have raised the possibility of targeting Tehran’s all-powerful leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A direct attack on Khamenei would plunge the region into uncharted territory.

One of the most powerful men in the Middle East, Khamenei has ruled Iran with an iron fist for nearly four decades, facing off against the US and Israel while crushing dissent at home and advancing Iran’s controversial nuclear program.

As supreme leader, he wields control of the government, judiciary and military in the nation of 90 million, as well as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and the powerful Quds force, a clandestine IRGC unit that oversees proxies including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Born in 1939 in Mashhad, Iran’s holiest city, Khamenei was the protégé of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, one of the main leaders of the revolution that toppled Iran’s pro-Western monarchy in 1979 and established the Islamic Republic.

He was also a target for Khomeini’s opponents and escaped an assassination attempt in 1981 that left his right arm useless.

Khamenei became supreme leader following Khomeini’s death in 1989. Since then, he has expanded Iran’s influence far beyond its own borders, positioning it as a regional power to be reckoned with.

For more than 30 years under Khamenei’s leadership, Iran avoided direct conflicts with its adversaries, entrenching itself with a network of allied militant groups spread throughout the region known as the “Axis of Resistance.”

That changed when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel’s war in Gaza and attacks on Hezbollah, one of Iran’s most prized proxies, have emboldened Israel and shattered the image of Iran as an impenetrable power, culminating in last week’s unprecedented strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities and top military leadership.