The Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 3, 2026. (Photo taken from the Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA)
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will turn 87 in April. He has led the Islamic Republic for 36 years, a period during which he has never left the country.For three decades, he patiently built a regional web through the export of ballistic missiles and the creation of militia networks. That strategy made Iran an unavoidable actor in the region and its main source of destabilization.He pursued Iran’s nuclear program but without crossing a point of no return. He crushed all forms of dissent at home.But in recent years, the tide has turned, and at dizzying speed. Iran has always been structurally fragile, but its regional project helped partly mask those weaknesses. This was until the illusion collapsed and Iran was left exposed. The implications for Lebanon Israel would have already attacked Hezbollah were it not for Iran's developments...
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will turn 87 in April. He has led the Islamic Republic for 36 years, a period during which he has never left the country.For three decades, he patiently built a regional web through the export of ballistic missiles and the creation of militia networks. That strategy made Iran an unavoidable actor in the region and its main source of destabilization.He pursued Iran’s nuclear program but without crossing a point of no return. He crushed all forms of dissent at home.But in recent years, the tide has turned, and at dizzying speed. Iran has always been structurally fragile, but its regional project helped partly mask those weaknesses. This was until the illusion collapsed and Iran was left exposed. The implications for Lebanon Israel would have already attacked Hezbollah were it not for Iran's...
