Weep not for Ayatollah Khamenei — by Yemi Adebowale

Back in January, blood flowed on the streets of Iran; blood of innocent young anti-government protesters. The young Iranians wanted an end to the country’s brutal Islamic government. They wanted freedom. The then Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, needed to end the protests that had dragged on for about three weeks. It could lead to his downfall. He would not allow this to happen.

So, he ordered a brutal suppression of the protests. His notorious Revolutionary Guards swarmed Iranian streets, killing and maiming the young men and women. It was bloody. Dead bodies littered the streets. Conservatively, no fewer than 5000 innocent souls sent to early graves for asking for democracy and justice in their country. They were quickly packed and mass-buried. The lethal dictator slaughtered his own people. Terrifying.

That ruthless crackdown on young Iranian protesters in January tells you how brutal this man called Ayatollah Khamenei was while his reign lasted. The murderous Islamic dictator ran Iran with an iron fist. He was Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini fused into one. Ayatollah Khamenei ran a system of deep-rooted state tyranny, manifesting in deadly clampdowns on those opposed to his Islamic government, mass arrests, state-arranged killings and vanishings, forced confessions and prejudicial trials. There was also massive discrimination against ethnic/religious minorities and women.

Under Ayatollah Khamenei, vital freedoms of expression, of association and of assembly were violently curtailed. He ruled with absolute, uncompromising, and brutal authority, relying on strict control, harsh punishments, and the suppression of dissent to maintain power.

After that brutal crackdown on protesters in January, I knew Ayatollah Khamenei’s end was just around the corner. He was living by the sword and surely destined to die by the sword. Those who use violence, aggression, or harsh unethical methods to achieve their goals will eventually be destroyed by those same methods. That was what happened to Ayatollah Khamenei. The end of the tyrant eventually came last Saturday. The Iranian Supreme Leader from 1989 to 2026 was killed alongside several of his lieutenants, his daughter, grandson and son-in-law in an Israeli strike that dropped missiles on his house in Tehran.

The attack was the opening stage of Israel’s Operation Lion’s Roar. In this drive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the United States, are seeking to collapse the Iranian government and “create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands.”

For me, it was the death of a bully and worldwide menace. Ayatollah Khamenei was deeply involved in funding terror organisations all over the world. The facts and figures are incontrovertible. Because of this, some of his supporters often described him as a symbol of resistance against Western imperialism. Honestly, this is balderdash. Ayatollah Khamenei created problems globally; not solutions. For example, while the rest of the world was battling for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, Ayatollah Khamenei was funding, training and providing arms and ammunitions to Hamas and Hezbollah to strike Israel. He believed in military solution to the crisis. This is why Israel went after him. They got him.

In the crisis in Yemen, Ayatollah Khamenei provided funds and ammunitions to the militant Houthis. He also provided military training for their men. The extremist Houthis have created more problems than solutions for Yemen. The crisis is persisting, thanks to Ayatollah Khamenei.

Ayatollah Khamenei invested Iran’s huge oil and gas money in arms, leaving many in the oil rich country penurious. He was involved in massive arms build up as part of his strategy for tackling Western countries and Israel. Under his rule, Iran was spending heavily producing missiles and drones. He was also investing heavily in nuclear power. He was competing with the West for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons. For him, with these, he would keep Western countries at bay.

He wanted to effectively challenge the West with nuclear power. He was working on inter-continental ballistic missiles. He wanted the capacity to attack the United States and any part of the world with missiles and drones. He was manufacturing so many arms and ammunitions at the expense of the welfare of Iranians. Ayatollah Khamenei was eventually consumed by arms race. Absolutely unnecessary competition for a developing country. No one should shed tears for him. Weep not for Ayatollah Khamenei. Weep not.