Portal:1980s/Selected biography/20
Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei born 17 July 1939) is the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran and a Muslim cleric. Ali Khamenei succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian Revolution, after Khomeini's death, being elected as the new Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on 4 June 1989, at age 49. He had also served as the President of Iran from 1981 to 1989. In 2012, 2013, and 2014 Forbes selected him 21st, 23rd, and 19th, respectively, in the list of The World's Most Powerful People.
Khamenei is a head of state, and is considered the most powerful political authority in Iran. Ganji, Akbar, "The Latter-Day Sultan: Power and Politics in Iran", Foreign Affairs, November December 2008</ref> Khamenei was the victim of an attempted assassination in June 1981 that paralysed his right arm. According to his official website, Khamenei was arrested six times before being sent into exile for three years during Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's reign. Six months after the 2003 invasion of Iraq to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa, that can be changed as and when deemed necessary, saying that the production, stockpiling, and use of weapons of mass destruction are forbidden. (Full article...)