Lee Keath & Rosie Slater | The Independent | Tuesday 13 January 2026
Ali Khamenei. Photo by Khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has spent more than three decades consolidating power by crushing internal threats.
But his leadership faces its most significant challenge yet as widespread protests against his leadership continue to grow across the country, with millions of Iranians taking to the streets to demand regime change.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran if Mr Khamenei’s regime continues its deadly crackdown of protesters, with Tehran warning they are ‘ready for war’ in response to the threats.
Mr Trump suggested last week that Mr Khamenei might be planning to flee the country amidst the unrest, with the Iranian leader responding by calling Mr Trump “arrogant”, saying he would be “overthrown.”
Follow latest updates on Iran protests here
Iranian officials, speaking to the New York Times, indicated the government had been “thrust into survival mode”, with reports last week also suggesting Mr Khamenei could flee to Russia.
Here’s what you need to know about Khamenei.
He transformed the Islamic Republic
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