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RIP Ali Khamenei
“Sometimes, I imagine myself dying from an accident. Or maybe a fever. And my heart becomes so full of sadness: that the chance for competing for paradise [i.e., martyrdom] will be taken away from me that way.”
Ajatollah Ali Khamenei – (source)
The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran was martyred on Saturday morning, together with other officials, by an Israeli airstrike on his home in Tehran. May he rest in peace.
bigger – Source: Carlos Latuff‘Western’ observers make the mistake of seeing highly reverted Shia leaders as mere clerics. They are way more than that.
First and foremost they are jurists and judges with a deep philosophical knowledge of the law. The title Ajatollah signifies a high academic ranking of an Shia-Islam scholar. Ajatollahs are examples for those living around them. They are extraordinary people who should be emulated and who’s advices are to be followed.
The system of the Islamic Republic was build with redundancies (archived) to be able to survive external and internal shocks:
For those who led the 1979 revolution, problems with leadership change were not just ideas—they were real warnings from history. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini did not eliminate the supreme authority; instead, he made it part of the system. The intense debates of 1979 about how to avoid past patterns of collapse led to new answers in Iran’s constitution: Each major body was created to solve a specific risk exposed by history.
The Guardian Council was formed to guard against political drift and to keep laws in line with Islamic principles. The Assembly of Experts took on the task of selecting and supervising the supreme leader, to prevent a concentration of power without oversight. The Expediency Council was established to resolve institutional deadlock, ensuring the system could continue to function even when high-level disagreements arose. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the intelligence agencies were meant to secure the revolution internally and externally, checking both foreign threats and domestic unrest.
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Iran is frequently portrayed as a political order bound tightly to individuals. Yet the architecture that emerged after 1979 was formed by a different logic, one founded in the revolutionary experience itself. Khomeini captured this hierarchy in a remark often cited within Iran’s political elite: “Preserving the Islamic Republic is more important than preserving any individual, even if that individual were the Imam of the Age”—a reference to Shiism’s 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi.
It is still unclear whether the system will always follow this principle. But one should expect a change in leadership in Tehran to be treated less as an ending and more as a chance for the country’s institutions to show they can survive.
I am confident that the Islamic Republic will survive this test. ‘Regime change’ in Tehran, which Trump seems to dream of (archived), is unlikely to happen.
Meanwhile the Strait of Hormuz is closed and the war of attrition continues …
The presented basis for the attack on Iran is that Iran should not pose a strategic challenge or capable opposition to “Israel”.
The “Israeli” ambiguity over possession of nuclear weapons has been matched by the possibility of Iran possessing or creating nuclear weapons, all promises to the contrary not withstanding.
The resulting confrontation has clearly been amplified by the USA, in the sense that the US has positioned a proactive response based on the above scenario, the presumption being of defending “Israel” from an unfair attack.
With Gaza, the Palestine retaliation to “Israeli” and western occupation, is presented as a de-facto example of undue hostility.
The formulated discontent resulting from the massacre of Palestine civilians by the US and “Israel” over the space of two years, is now being used by the US to try signal Iran as culpable. Not via its support of Palestine as would be expected, because this would bring into focus the historical misdeed of “Israel”.
It is instead being enacted in a way to both distract from own prosecution, as well as to try to tarnish Iran by insinuating a similar crime, so shifting attention and attempting to disarm any perspective of true comparison and hence opposition to US policy.
That is where the accusation of the ‘killing of 32000 protestors’ by Iran comes from, as well as accusation of decades of atrocity towards civilians by Iran.
In short, the US is positioning itself as a judge of foreign nations, where its own hypocrisy is not excused but embraced as forming the crux of peaceful resolution, which happens in reality to be one revolving around violent conflict via use of force.
It is not about nuclear research, it is not a question of ‘rights to’. Those count, but not to the current extent, nor for one nor the other.
As Trump correctly stated, Iran does not need advanced nuclear abilities. However he ommitted to mention and compare to US or “Israeli” activity and ambiguity, which is the proper setting.
The pretext for hostility is based on that confrontation, no matter who anyone believes:
The US will not accept a nation, one that opposes the establishment of “Israel”, that is able to defend its own position, or that might be able to defend its own position.
This is seen as a threat, and reacted to accordingly, with all the hypocrisy and lies that we witness.
The irony of course is that with their current approach, both US and “Israel” have destroyed their own credibility, leaving only an option of complete domination as escape from retribution or due criminalisation.
This is also what “Israeli” strategists are concerned about regarding Gaza and Palestine, that they are not able to achieve a total resounding victory, even though to ‘anyone normal’ this would seem obvious. In retrospect though, such a presentation is merely one more excuse to try to enact total control over Palestine, its people, and also eventually the western ‘audience’ , and its freedom of opinion and thought.
In this context, the assassination and martyrdom of Khamenei, the illusions of surrender, are programmed into a wider objective of continuing expansion of control, that have no destination but to achieve a form of position that is permanently called for to enforce what is being labelled as a peace.
So although it seems like the most imbecilic act to undertake, its purpose is more sinister.
Khamenei was a balance of reserve and moderation, no matter the opinion anyone holds on Iran’s stance towards western presence in the region.
He was also a paternal figure for many millions of people, and an example of decency in a world that has become increasingly corrupt and inhuman.
So I am only able to thank him for that.
Posted by: Ornot | Mar 1 2026 14:44 utc | 148
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