Ali Hosseini Khamenei was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the second supreme leader of Iran from 1989 until his assassination in the 2026 Iran war. A member of the Khamenei family, he previously served as the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He held the title Grand Ayatollah, and his tenure as supreme leader, spanning 36 years and six months, made him the longest-serving head of state in West Asia at the time of his death.