Seyed Ali Khamenei, born in 1939, supreme spiritual leader of Iran (1989- ), president of Iran (1981-1989), and ayatollah (“gift of God,” a religious title of honor). Khamenei was born in Mashhad (Meshed), into a family of Islamic clerics. He was sent as a boy to study theology in An Najaf, Iraq, and in 1958 returned to Iran to study Islamic theology at Qom. There, he studied under the Ayatollahs Mohammad Hosay and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini would later become one of the leaders of the Islamic revolution against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and, after Pahlavi was toppled, the supreme spiritual leader of Iran (1979-1989). Khamenei was a close ally of Khomeini, joining in Khomeini's movement against Pahlavi as early as 1962. Khamenei's activities against Pahlavi earned him an arrest in 1963.

Khamenei was one of the founders of the Islamic Republican Party, which dominated the Majlis (the national legislature) after the 1979 revolution. He was appointed to the Council of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and between 1979 and 1981 he was a member of the Majlis, serving as deputy minister of defense, commander of the Revolutionary Guard, and representative on the Supreme Council of Defense. He also served several times as general secretary of the Islamic Republic Party. In 1981 and 1985 Khamenei was elected president. As required by the constitution, he resigned the presidency in 1989. Following Khomeini's death in 1989, Khamenei assumed the role of supreme spiritual leader. As both president and supreme spiritual leader, Khamenei supported somewhat closer ties with the United States and the Commonwealth of Independent States (formerly the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) than Khomeini favored. These ties had been strained following the 1979 Islamic revolution. Khamenei tried to improve Iran's relations with countries in the Middle East and Asia and to improve Iran's economy following the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988).

Although no longer president, most political observers believe that Khamenei continues to play the decisive role in determining Iran’s foreign policies. In this regard, some political observers believed it was significant that Iran offered sympathy to the United States following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Khamenei called such attacks against innocent people a grave sin, and candlelight vigils for the victims of the attack were held in Tehrān, the capital.

Iran also provided military advice and political support for the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, which toppled the Taliban regime. The Taliban regarded Shia Muslims as apostates and repressed their religious activities in Afghanistan, damaging their relations with Iran. Under Khamenei, Iran also offered the United States support in providing intelligence regarding al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization that had been given refuge by the Taliban.

In 2003 Iran made a peace overture to the United States through the Swiss ambassador to Iran. The Swiss ambassador was approached because the United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations. In a two-page memo faxed to the U.S. Department of State, the Iranian overture reportedly called for normalizing relations between the two countries and called for a comprehensive peace settlement. The memo endorsed the Arab League’s position on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute through a two-state solution and in exchange offered an end to Iran’s material support for Hamas and Hezbollah. The administration of President George W. Bush rejected the overture and admonished the Swiss ambassador for delivering it.

In 2004 Khamenei delivered a fatwa (religious edict) regarding the use of nuclear weapons, saying that they were “un-Islamic.” In a subsequent sermon, Khamenei elaborated on this position, declaring that “developing, producing, or stockpiling nuclear weapons is forbidden under Islam.” The United States, however, continued to harbor suspicions, especially after Iran openly began a uranium-enrichment program under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.