In an exclusive interview with IRNA published on Thursday, Leon said, “The ideas of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei that had the greatest influence on the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran are the strategic expansion of the five branches of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC).”
“He understood that for Iran to protect itself against Western imperialism, domestic Western interference, and to compete on the international front, Iran was going to have to reorganize its defense forces in a manner consistent with its Western opposition, such as the CIA and MI6, while staying true to Islamic tradition.”
The full text of his remarks is as follows:
In order to properly assess the intellectual and political Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, it is important to understand the context in which he came to power. The United States and Britain overthrew the Iranian government and the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh with a CIA-orchestrated coup on August 19, 1953, and reinstalled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Pahlavi remained in power, operating as a torturous, murdering pro-Western monarch for 26 years.
There were a number of factors leading up to the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Iranians deeply resented that the Shah ruled as an absolute, Western-motivated monarch. He repressed political dissent through his brutal secret police, the SAVAK. He implemented his “White Revolution”. The Shah’s economic, political, and social reforms contrasted directly with and marginalized the Shia clergy and dismantled traditional Islamic social norms.
By late 1978, mass protests, general strikes, and strikes in the vital oil industry paralyzed the country. Faced with mounting unrest, in 1979 a broad coalition of Iranians—including clerics, students, workers, and leftists came together to overthrow the autocratic, Western-backed government. The Shah was overthrown and fled the country.
Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to power in 1979 through widespread grassroots support after having been exiled in 1964 for his vocal opposition to the Shah’s secularization and modernization policies. He led Iran until he died in 1989 at the age of 87. The political history of Iran is complex, but one of the key elements of the conflict appears to be a Western-backed attempt to secularize the government and the demand that Iran accept the creation of the Zionist colony of Israel.
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei officially became the Supreme Leader of Iran on June 4, 1989. How do I assess the intellectual and political legacy of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei? His politics developed out of a clear understanding of the West’s desire to secularize the politics of Iran and westernize the social fabric of Iran. As a key advisor to his predecessor, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Khamenei played a key role in the development of Iran as part of the resistance to the West and at the heart of the development of the Islamic Republic from the 1979 Iranian Revolution until his death in 2026.
The ideas of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei that had the greatest influence on the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran are the strategic expansion of the five branches of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He understood that in order for Iran to protect itself against Western imperialism, domestic Western interference, and to compete on the international front, Iran was going to have to reorganize its defense forces in a manner consistent with its Western opposition, such as the CIA and MI6, while staying true to Islamic tradition.
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei was also the main force behind making Iran’s nuclear capabilities central to its national security. This was incredibly strategic. I believe he looked at the development of the stated nuclear postures of India and Pakistan and the “secret” nuclear program in Israel and understood that the threat of a nuclear program could be as effective a deterrent as the program itself while still staying true to Islamic tradition.
He also played an instrumental role in expanding Iran’s regional reach and influence in the Axis of Resistance movement. He expanded and coordinated relationships with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine, Ansar Allah in Yemen, and forces in Syria.
I believe his strategy of resistance has been very influential and important. The Axis of Resistance has a much different mission and motivation than the Western aggressors. As a resistance movement, its fundamental mission is to challenge, reform, or overthrow an established authority. The focus is the morally based struggle, and its success will come over time.
The mission of the established authority (the West) is to maintain institutional stability, preserve the status quo, and enforce its rule. The resistance’s goal is to fight the war of attrition. Live to fight another day, and over time, the established power will grow weary, weaken, and be forced to make very difficult decisions.
That’s what is playing itself out right now between Iran and the Zionist colony, Iran and the US, and other governments in the region.
Failing to understand the power of the resistance, the moral base and purpose of the resistance, and the arrogance of the West, the West has been lulled into an unwinnable position in the region. Once again, like Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the West has lost a conflict of its own making. It’s a victim of its own event. It is now desperately seeking a “face-saving” way out when there is none.
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