Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hard-Line Cleric Who Made Iran a Regional Power, Is Dead at 86

As Iran’s second supreme leader, he brutally crushed dissent at home and expanded Iran’s footprint abroad, challenging Saudi Arabia for regional dominance.Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled for more than three decades, shaped Iran’s Islamic revolution far more than the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini.