Men of Influence magazine


In June 1981, he was severely injured in a bomb attack on a mosque in Tehran that was blamed on a leftist insurgent group. The incident left him paralysed in his right arm.

Two months later, the same insurgent group assassinated Iran’s President, Mohammad-Ali Rajai. Ali Khamenei was elected to succeed Rajai and stayed in the then largely-ceremonial role for eight years, often clashing with the then prime minister, Mir Hossein Mousavi, whom he thought favoured too much reform to the Iranian system.

After the death of Khomeini in June 1989 the Assembly of Experts (a council of clerics) chose Ali Khamenei to be the new Supreme Leader, even though he had not achieved the required rank among Shia clerics that the constitution stipulated – marja-e taqlid (source of emulation) or grand ayatollah.

To rectify the situation, the constitution was amended to say the Supreme Leader had to show “Islamic scholarship”, enabling Ali Khamenei to be selected. He was also elevated overnight from the clerical rank of Hojjat al-Islam to ayatollah.

Iran’s constitution was also changed to abolish the post of prime minister and vest greater authority in the presidency.



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