From accidental to absolute leader - who is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's often reclusive Supreme Leader, surfaced this week to hit back at Donald Trump's demands for an unconditional surrender.
Khamenei first came to power as Iranian president in 1981, and he was a surprise choice for Supreme Leader eight years later. But since then, with the help of the Revolutionary Guard, he has had almost complete control of Iran and its anti-Israel and anti-American foreign policy agenda.
Tom Cheshire speaks to Alex Vatanka, founding director of the Iran programme at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, about how Khamenei is viewed inside Iran and how his policies contributed to the current crisis
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