Sayyid 'Ali Khamenei, the second Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was born on the 28th of Safar in the year 1358 AH (April 19, 1939).
Sayyid 'Ali Khamenei was born on the 28th of Safar, 1358 AH, corresponding to April 19, 1939, in Mashhad, Iran. He served as the third President of Iran from 1981 to 1989, and as the second Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1989 until his passing in February 2026.
He was born into a humble religious family as the second son of Sayyid Javad Khamenei.
He studied Islamic sciences and theology at the seminaries (hawzas) in Mashhad, Qom, and Najaf. He studied under prominent religious scholars, including Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
He opposed the government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1960s and 1970s, facing imprisonment and exile. He served as President of Iran for most of the 1980s during the turbulent Iran–Iraq War. He assumed the position of Supreme Leader in June 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, holding the post for nearly 37 years.