Latest news with #IranRevolutionaryGuardsCorps
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Who is Iran's Supreme Leader? Like Trump, he controls a real-estate empire
One's a president, the other's a supreme leader. One's demanding "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER," the other says "those with wisdom who know Iran" − its people and its history − "never speak to this nation in the language of threats, because the Iranian nation will not surrender." Both are real estate guys − the one who got his start in Queens, N.Y., perhaps a little more than the other. As Israel and Iran traded attacks for a sixth day, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on June 18 that the United States would face "irreparable damage" if its military joined Israel's conflict with Iran. Khamenei's comments, made in an address on state TV, came after President Donald Trump took to social media to insist that Iran yield to Israel, which wants to destroy Tehran's nuclear program and thus prevent its weaponization. Does Israel need US help? It wants to destroy Iran's nuclear program Trump has also raised the possibility of directly targeting Khamenei, writing on social media that "we know exactly where" he is, but adding "we are not going to take him out (kill!), at least for now." Here's a closer look at Khamenei, Iran's top decision-maker for nearly four decades. Live updates: Trump teases possible US strike as Iran supreme leader warns America Khamenei, 86, was born into a clerical family in 1939. As a young man, he participated in religious training in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad, in eastern Iran, as well as Najaf, which is in Iraq. He found his calling as a religious leader while in political opposition to Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, a U.S.-backed autocrat and monarchist who used secret police and torture on his opponents. Iran: 11 facts about a country rarely visited by westerners Pahlavi is known as the "last shah of Iran." He died in exile and his son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, lives outside Washington, D.C., where he still occasionally talks about one day returning to Iran. According to his official biography, published in 1963, Khamenei himself was tortured age 24 when he served the first of many prison terms for political activities under the shah's rule. Khamenei was a close ally of Iran's first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the figure who led the country's 1979 revolution that overthrew Pahlavi and founded Iran's Islamic Republic. After the revolution, Khamenei quickly rose through Iran's religious and political ranks, becoming a deputy defense minister. In that role he became close to the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps. The IRGC is a powerful security organization with a vast political and economic power base that extends to Iran's armed forces, as well as its strategic industries from oil to agriculture. With Khomeini's support, Khamenei won Iran's presidency in 1981. As the nation's top elected official, he is responsible for the running of the government and has influence over domestic policy and foreign affairs, but Iran's president is ultimately second in rank to the supreme leader. Khamenei became Iran's supreme leader in 1989. He was 50. He now has the final say on all of Iran's domestic and foreign policy. He appoints the heads of its justice department, security and intelligence agencies and state media. He decides who can run for president. He has authority over Iran's nuclear program. He interprets the application of Iran's religious laws and codes. For decades, Khamenei has also been at the heart of Iran's strategy, weakened in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that resulted in the war in Gaza, of projecting its power and influence across the Middle East region through a network of militant groups stretching from Gaza to Yemen. Khamenei decides whether Iran goes to war and whether to improve, or not, relations with Washington. More than a decade ago, a Reuters investigation concluded that Iran's ayatollah also controlled a massive financial empire built on property seizures in the chaotic years after the 1979 revolution, when many Iranians fled overseas. This is, of course, a very different property world to Trump's, whose father Fred amassed an unglamorous fortune building apartments, then watched his son turn the family business into a glitzy real-estate empire. In fact, the supreme leader's acolytes have for years praised his spartan lifestyle. They point to his modest wardrobe and threadbare carpet in his Tehran home. But Setad, the organization he presided over, had holdings of real estate, corporate stakes and other assets totaling about $95 billion in 2013, according to Reuters. The news wire reportedthat the business juggernaut held stakes in nearly every sector of Iranian industry, including finance, oil, telecommunications, the production of birth-control pills and even ostrich farming. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Iran's Supreme Leader? He has something in common with Trump.
The Herald Scotland
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Who is Iran's Supreme Leader? He has something in common with Trump.
As Israel and Iran traded attacks for a sixth day, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on June 18 that the United States would face "irreparable damage" if its military joined Israel's conflict with Iran. Khamenei's comments, made in an address on state TV, came after President Donald Trump took to social media to insist that Iran yield to Israel, which wants to destroy Tehran's nuclear program and thus prevent its weaponization. Does Israel need US help? It wants to destroy Iran's nuclear program Trump has also raised the possibility of directly targeting Khamenei, writing on social media that "we know exactly where" he is, but adding "we are not going to take him out (kill!), at least for now." Here's a closer look at Khamenei, Iran's top decision-maker for nearly four decades. Live updates: Trump teases possible US strike as Iran supreme leader warns America Who Is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader? Khamenei, 86, was born into a clerical family in 1939. As a young man, he participated in religious training in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad, in eastern Iran, as well as Najaf, which is in Iraq. He found his calling as a religious leader while in political opposition to Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, a U.S.-backed autocrat and monarchist who used secret police and torture on his opponents. Iran: 11 facts about a country rarely visited by westerners Pahlavi is known as the "last shah of Iran." He died in exile and his son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, lives outside Washington, D.C., where he still occasionally talks about one day returning to Iran. According to his official biography, published in 1963, Khamenei himself was tortured age 24 when he served the first of many prison terms for political activities under the shah's rule. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - rising through the ranks Khamenei was a close ally of Iran's first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the figure who led the country's 1979 revolution that overthrew Pahlavi and founded Iran's Islamic Republic. After the revolution, Khamenei quickly rose through Iran's religious and political ranks, becoming a deputy defense minister. In that role he became close to the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps. The IRGC is a powerful security organization with a vast political and economic power base that extends to Iran's armed forces, as well as its strategic industries from oil to agriculture. With Khomeini's support, Khamenei won Iran's presidency in 1981. As the nation's top elected official, he is responsible for the running of the government and has influence over domestic policy and foreign affairs, but Iran's president is ultimately second in rank to the supreme leader. A property empire built on seizures Khamenei became Iran's supreme leader in 1989. He was 50. He now has the final say on all of Iran's domestic and foreign policy. He appoints the heads of its justice department, security and intelligence agencies and state media. He decides who can run for president. He has authority over Iran's nuclear program. He interprets the application of Iran's religious laws and codes. For decades, Khamenei has also been at the heart of Iran's strategy, weakened in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that resulted in the war in Gaza, of projecting its power and influence across the Middle East region through a network of militant groups stretching from Gaza to Yemen. Khamenei decides whether Iran goes to war and whether to improve, or not, relations with Washington. More than a decade ago, a Reuters investigation concluded that Iran's ayatollah also controlled a massive financial empire built on property seizures in the chaotic years after the 1979 revolution, when many Iranians fled overseas. This is, of course, a very different property world to Trump's, whose father Fred amassed an unglamorous fortune building apartments, then watched his son turn the family business into a glitzy real-estate empire. In fact, the supreme leader's acolytes have for years praised his spartan lifestyle. They point to his modest wardrobe and threadbare carpet in his Tehran home. But Setad, the organization he presided over, had holdings of real estate, corporate stakes and other assets totaling about $95 billion in 2013, according to Reuters. The news wire reportedthat the business juggernaut held stakes in nearly every sector of Iranian industry, including finance, oil, telecommunications, the production of birth-control pills and even ostrich farming.
USA Today
a day ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Who is Iran's Supreme Leader? Like Trump, he controls a real-estate empire
Who is Iran's Supreme Leader? Like Trump, he controls a real-estate empire Show Caption Hide Caption Some MAGA Republicans disagree on Israel-Iran conflict US policy The Israel-Iran conflict is dividing Republicans on whether the U.S. should get involved. One's a president, the other's a supreme leader. One's demanding "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER," the other says "those with wisdom who know Iran" − its people and its history − "never speak to this nation in the language of threats, because the Iranian nation will not surrender." Both are real estate guys − the one who got his start in Queens, N.Y., perhaps a little more than the other. As Israel and Iran traded attacks for a sixth day, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on June 18 that the United States would face "irreparable damage" if its military joined Israel's conflict with Iran. Khamenei's comments, made in an address on state TV, came after President Donald Trump took to social media to insist that Iran yield to Israel, which wants to destroy Tehran's nuclear program and thus prevent its weaponization. Does Israel need US help? It wants to destroy Iran's nuclear program Trump has also raised the possibility of directly targeting Khamenei, writing on social media that "we know exactly where" he is, but adding "we are not going to take him out (kill!), at least for now." Here's a closer look at Khamenei, Iran's top decision-maker for nearly four decades. Live updates: Trump teases possible US strike as Iran supreme leader warns America Who Is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader? Khamenei, 86, was born into a clerical family in 1939. As a young man, he participated in religious training in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad, in eastern Iran, as well as Najaf, which is in Iraq. He found his calling as a religious leader while in political opposition to Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, a U.S.-backed autocrat and monarchist who used secret police and torture on his opponents. Iran: 11 facts about a country rarely visited by westerners Pahlavi is known as the "last shah of Iran." He died in exile and his son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, lives outside Washington, D.C., where he still occasionally talks about one day returning to Iran. According to his official biography, published in 1963, Khamenei himself was tortured age 24 when he served the first of many prison terms for political activities under the shah's rule. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei − rising through the ranks Khamenei was a close ally of Iran's first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the figure who led the country's 1979 revolution that overthrew Pahlavi and founded Iran's Islamic Republic. After the revolution, Khamenei quickly rose through Iran's religious and political ranks, becoming a deputy defense minister. In that role he became close to the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps. The IRGC is a powerful security organization with a vast political and economic power base that extends to Iran's armed forces, as well as its strategic industries from oil to agriculture. With Khomeini's support, Khamenei won Iran's presidency in 1981. As the nation's top elected official, he is responsible for the running of the government and has influence over domestic policy and foreign affairs, but Iran's president is ultimately second in rank to the supreme leader. A property empire built on seizures Khamenei became Iran's supreme leader in 1989. He was 50. He now has the final say on all of Iran's domestic and foreign policy. He appoints the heads of its justice department, security and intelligence agencies and state media. He decides who can run for president. He has authority over Iran's nuclear program. He interprets the application of Iran's religious laws and codes. For decades, Khamenei has also been at the heart of Iran's strategy, weakened in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that resulted in the war in Gaza, of projecting its power and influence across the Middle East region through a network of militant groups stretching from Gaza to Yemen. Khamenei decides whether Iran goes to war and whether to improve, or not, relations with Washington. More than a decade ago, a Reuters investigation concluded that Iran's ayatollah also controlled a massive financial empire built on property seizures in the chaotic years after the 1979 revolution, when many Iranians fled overseas. This is, of course, a very different property world to Trump's, whose father Fred amassed an unglamorous fortune building apartments, then watched his son turn the family business into a glitzy real-estate empire. In fact, the supreme leader's acolytes have for years praised his spartan lifestyle. They point to his modest wardrobe and threadbare carpet in his Tehran home. But Setad, the organization he presided over, had holdings of real estate, corporate stakes and other assets totaling about $95 billion in 2013, according to Reuters. The news wire reportedthat the business juggernaut held stakes in nearly every sector of Iranian industry, including finance, oil, telecommunications, the production of birth-control pills and even ostrich farming.
India.com
3 days ago
- Politics
- India.com
Iran opens 'door to hell' for Israel with 30 years of preparation; it's like Gaza..., America will...
New Delhi: When Israel attacked Iran's capital Tehran, Fordo Nuclear Facility and military bases in Isfahan, the world's eyes were fixed on Iran's counter attack. Iran had been saying for years that if Israel attacks, it will be given a befitting reply. This time, after the Israeli attack began, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said that 'Israel will be rendered helpless.' And Iran has done what it had been warning the world about for years. It has launched a flurry of ballistic missiles against Israel. Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps i.e. IRGC has fired more than 200 missiles and drones simultaneously. Many of these missiles were medium range, whose range is between 1000 to 2000 kilometers. Iran is firing at least 150 missiles at Israel at a time. Although experts say that Israel has largely destroyed Iran's ability to fire ballistic missiles, it is still able to fire at least more than 150 advanced ballistic missiles at a time, which shows how strong Iran's ballistic missile programme is. It has even been revealed that Iran was preparing to fire 1000 ballistic missiles at a time and if it was able to do so, no one would have been able to stop Israel from becoming like Gaza, because no air defense system in the world can intercept 1000 ballistic missiles at once. Iran has rapidly expanded its ballistic missile power The strongest pillar of Iran's military strategy is its ballistic missile capability. In the last 25 to 30 years, Iran has advanced its ballistic missile capability significantly. It now has advanced ballistic missiles which Israel is failing to intercept. After years of hard work, Iran has accumulated a stockpile of hundreds of surface-to-surface missiles, including short range, medium range and intermediate range missiles. Missiles like Fateh-110, Zulfiqar, Shahab-3 and Khorramshahr are no longer just names, but strategic messages. In retaliatory attacks against Israel, Iran has shown by using these missiles in an exceptionally coordinated manner that it has not just rockets but also high-precision strike capability. The USA and Israel believe that Iran may have around 3000 ballistic missiles. Apart from this, the Israeli defense system has also destroyed missiles outside the earth's atmosphere, which means that Iran has also used intercontinental ballistic (ICBM) missiles. The use of ICBM missiles means that Iran has already built missiles that can drop nuclear bombs and it is just waiting to make nuclear bombs. The US National Intelligence Director's Office said that the ballistic missile stockpile that Iran has is the largest in the Middle East. Kenneth McKenzie, the head of the US Central Command, warned in March about the 'increasing size and sophistication of Iran's missile force'. He said that 'Tehran's missiles, combined with its nuclear capability, pose a complex deterrent challenge.' What kind of ballistic missiles does Iran have? To attack Israel, Iran needs ballistic missiles with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers. Iran's state-run news outlet ISNA published a graphic last year showing nine types of Iranian missiles that it said could reach Israel. However, it is not clear at the moment what type of missiles Iran has used in its recent attacks. But previous attacks have reportedly included medium-range ballistic missiles such as Imad and Ghadr-1 and Iran's first hypersonic Fatah-1. So far, the attacks show that Iran has used three types of medium-range ballistic missiles, with a range of between 1,400-1,700 kilometers. Apart from this, the most important thing seen in Iran's attacks so far is that a lot of payload i.e. gunpowder has been used in the missiles so that maximum level of destruction is spread. Israeli military officials said that Iran has so far attacked Israel with about 400 ballistic missiles and it has 3000 ballistic missiles in its stock. Speaking to the New York Times, two members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that Iran had originally planned to launch 1,000 ballistic missiles on Israel in response to Israeli attacks on Iran. But this could not happen due to Israeli attacks. Israel's strong air defense systems include Iron Dome, which is for short-range threats. Iron Dome is one of the most effective air defense systems in the world. David's Sling, Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 are providing defense against medium and long-range Iranian missiles. Israel also has the American Patriot system, which has a range of about 160 km, which is also protecting Israel. Still, some missiles are falling.
