Ali khamenei date of birth

In Iran, the word of Ali Khamenei is absolute. For more than two decades he has been his country's supreme leader.

Ali khamenei age

But the outside world knows perhaps only two things about him: he has almost the same name as the man he replaced, Ayatollah Khomeini, and he is overshadowed by the man he outranks - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. When we do see Ali Khamenei he is often delivering a sermon against the US - looking rather forbidding in a black turban and white beard.

But it turns out that this same man also smoked a pipe, likes gardening and enjoys poetry. It is time to get to know the ayatollah. Ali Khamenei was born in in the northern city of Mashhad - the holiest city in Iran. He followed his father and became a cleric. It was not an easy choice.

Ali khamenei children

He grew up during the rule of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The Shah was a secular monarch who viewed religion as ancient and suspicious. People were mocking him because of the special period in which he was living in Mashhad. He had a very difficult life. But Ali Khamenei kept going. He got married and had six children we have pictures of his sons, but none of his wife or daughters.