Revisited: From unintended to absolute chief – who’s Ayatollah Khamenei?

Over 2025, each Friday, the Sky News Daily has been profiling a determine within the information – those that are making headlines, creating conversations. During the festive interval, we’re revisiting a few of these standout profiles – those that actually obtained us speaking.

In June, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s usually reclusive supreme chief, surfaced to hit again at Donald Trump’s calls for for an unconditional give up.

Khamanei first got here to energy as President of Iran in 1981, and he was a shock alternative for supreme chief eight years later. But since then, with the assistance of the Revolutionary Guard he has had virtually full management of Iran and its anti-Israel and anti-American international coverage agenda.

Sky’s Tom Cheshire speaks to Alex Vatanka, founding director of the Iran programme on the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, about how Khamenei is considered inside Iran and the way his insurance policies contributed to the present disaster.

Producer: Soila Apparicio

Editor: Wendy Parker