{"id":29538,"date":"2026-02-28T16:31:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T21:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/visual-chronicle-of-irans-longtime-leader-ayatollah-ali-khamenei\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T16:31:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T21:31:25","slug":"visual-chronicle-of-irans-longtime-leader-ayatollah-ali-khamenei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/visual-chronicle-of-irans-longtime-leader-ayatollah-ali-khamenei\/","title":{"rendered":"Visual Chronicle of Iran’s Longtime Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took control of Iran’s Islamic Republic in 1989, assuming leadership after the death of the revolution’s founding figure.<\/p>

Though not regarded as particularly charismatic, Khamenei has maintained stability in Iran following the devastating conflict with Iraq during the 1980s, leading the country for over thirty years – a tenure significantly longer than the single leader who came before him.<\/p>

This collection of photographs has been assembled by Associated Press photo editors.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has led Iran’s Islamic Republic since 1989, taking over from the revolution’s founder. Despite being considered less charismatic than his predecessor, he has maintained control over the nation for more than thirty years following the Iran-Iraq conflict of the 1980s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":29537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[832],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/news-1772314284920.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbtNqq-7Gq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29614,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/irans-supreme-leader-ali-khamenei-dies-at-86-following-joint-us-israeli-strike\/","url_meta":{"origin":29538,"position":0},"title":"Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Dies at 86 Following Joint US-Israeli Strike","author":"Admin","date":"February 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran as supreme leader for over three decades, died at age 86 following a joint military operation by Israel and the United States. 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