Ali Khamenei Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography
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Hometown: Mashhad
Age: 85 Years
Wife: Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh
Some Lesser Known Facts About Ali Khamenei
- Ali Khamenei was born into a religious family. His father was an Alim. Their house was in a poor neighbourhood and measured only 65 square meters.
- He was a cleric then but had more interest in politics than religion.
- When he was 13 years old, he met famous Islamic revolutionary Sayyid Mojtaba Navab Safavi (Mirlohi) in Mashhad which made him interested in revolution.
- In 1957, he went to Najaf, Iraq, to study. When he heard the news that his father had lost vision in one eye and couldn’t study properly, he returned to Mashhad.
- In January 1964, Khamenei was arrested first time by SAVAK, then Iran’s intelligence agency, and taken to Theran where he was in solitary confinement for 2 months.
- In 1975, SAVAK arrested him for the 6th and final time and confiscated his books and notes. He was freed months later.
- In 1976, he was sentenced to exile for 3 years but returned to Iran in 1978.
- Khamenei led the 1979 Iranian Revolution that ended by overthrowing Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran.
- Since 14 April 1979, he has been the head of servants of Astan Quds Razavi.
- On 27 June 1981, he survived an assassination attempt by Mujahedin-e Khalq. It was Saturday, and he had gone to Aboozar Mosque. After giving his lecture to young people, he asked them to write their questions on paper and put them on a table.
- One person kept a tape recorder on the table which made a whistling sound for a few seconds and then exploded. Inside the recorder, a message ‘A gift of Furqan Group to the Islamic Republic’ was pasted.
- His arms, lungs, and vocal cords were seriously injured. He was immediately rushed to a hospital where he was treated for several months. But his right arm didn’t recover and became useless for him. Due to this, he uses his left arm for everything.
- In October 1981, he became the President of Iran for the first time with a 97% vote in his favour. He was the first cleric to reach the position.
- He has a liking for poetry and literature. When he lived in Mashhad during his early years, he often used to visit the literary meetings and used to criticise the poems being recited.
- In his first Presidential address, he said that he would eliminate liberalism and American leftists from the country.
- On 4 June 1989, he succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini as the Supreme Leader of Iran. Though many grand ayatollahs opposed his appointment as he was not a marja or ayatollah, the assembly of experts altered their constitution for him.
- The Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom made him the new marja in 1994.
- Over time, he became a key figure in all important Iranian organizations, governmental or private.
- In 1996, he issued a fatwa to ban teaching music in the state-run schools, claiming it was against Islam.
- In 1999, he permitted the use of third parties (donor sperm, ova or surrogacy) in fertility treatments and issued a fatwa. He ruled in 2002 that Islam allows stem cell research for creating body parts unless a full body is made using it.
- In 2005, he made headlines all over the world when he issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons, forbidding its production, stockpiling, and use. In 2010, the fatwa was updated and titled ‘Prohibition of Weapons of Mass Destruction.’
- However, he did mention that Iran was free and willing to develop nuclear technology for civil purposes as the country cannot depend on oil forever.
- In 2007, he started a privatization drive for all state-run companies which included 3 banks, 1 telecommunications company, and many oil and petrochemical organizations.
- There have been many controversies regarding Khamenei’s net worth. In 2013, the British news agency Reuters claimed that he controlled a US $95 billion fund of ‘Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam’ or ‘Setad’ for his expenses.
- According to Reuters, he used the money for his Beit Rahbari compound which has more than 500 stewards.
- The Iranian officials claim those claims were bogus, and Setad works exclusively for charity in the education, healthcare, and housing sectors.
- On 9 September 2014, he underwent a prostate surgery.
- In 2017, he banned women in the country from riding bicycles in public by issuing a fatwa against it.
- Ali Khamenei has very strict rules about Iran’s foreign policy. Anyone who wants to meet him must travel to Iran; he does not travel outside the country.
- In September 2022, he underwent surgery for bowel obstruction.
- He is known for writing several open letters to Iranian people and supporters across the world. On 30 May 2024, he wrote a letter to students across the USA protesting Israel’s military action against Hamas in Palestine and showed solidarity with them.
- Khamenei has been accused of orchestrating the killings of more than 160 defectors. He has refuted those claims, calling such rumours a propaganda against him.
- There have been many protests including the 1999 Iranian Student protests and 2022 Mahsa Amini protests during his 3-decades long rule as Supreme Leader of Iran.
- Many people accused of Baháʼí faith have been his opponents, and he has passed legislation against them to lower their influence.
- Several people have been jailed in Iran for criticizing Khamenei. In 1996, a journalist named Abbas Maroufi was jailed, banned from working as a news reporter, his literary monthly Gardoon was closed, and sentenced to 35 lashes and 6 months imprisonment.
- He is a vocal critic of LGBTQ+ and has often criticized them.
- He is known for his anti-western and anti-zionist stance, particularly against the USA and Israel.
- Ali Khamenei has written many books including The Charter of Freedom and Honest Leader.
- With a 35-year reign as Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei is the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East. He is also the commander of the chief of Iran’s armed forces.