00:00Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been Iran's spiritual guide and top political authority since 1989
00:07when he succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as supreme leader.
00:12For four decades, Khomeini shaped Iran's defiance,
00:15attempting to craft a sovereign and radical posture in West Asia,
00:20often competing with Western and Israeli interests.
00:23Before becoming the supreme leader, he had led Iran as president
00:27through a bloody war with Iraq in the 1980s.
00:31After the revolution in 1979, Khomeini became a key figure in establishing the new Iran.
00:39Although often depicted as hardline and uncompromising, Khomeini was also a pragmatist.
00:45In 2015, he greenlit then-president Hassan Rouhani's negotiations with the West
00:51that led to the nuclear deal in 2015.
00:54In 2018, the U.S. unilaterally walked out of the agreement, rendering it void.
01:00Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is purely civilian in nature.
01:05In 2003, Khomeini had issued a fatwa prohibiting the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
01:12Some say by issuing this order, Khomeini missed the chance
01:16to build a credible deterrent against the U.S. and Israel.
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