Ali Khamenei

Ali Khamenei has been the Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989. Previously the president of Iran, he has been the Supreme Leader since Ayatollah Khomeini's death. Khamenei has a long record as a conservative cleric; he was an early supporter of Khomeini's ideology, and served as his spokesman inside Iran during Khomeini's exile. He narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in 1981, and became president a few months later.

More powerful than the president, the Supreme Leader appoints most of the top positions in the military, government, and many other areas of Iranian society. Deeply conservative, he has opposed most calls for reform in Iran's government. In 2004, he prevented the candidacy of many moderate and liberal politicians, and he orchestrated the suppression of the popular protests following the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president in 2009.

For more information, see http://bbc.in/sZbqwc.