India, June 17 -- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader for the better half of four decades now, claimed that Israel "won't last long" in front of thousands of supporters gathered in a mosque on Friday (June 13). This follows after Israel recently killed the Iran-backed veteran secretary general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and bombed its headquarters in Beirut. This was followed by an airstrike launched against Iran on the same day which ended up destroying a third of their missile launchers.

In response, Tehran chose to strike back by launching missiles and drones. But who is the man who pushed the button?

Born as the son of a humble cleric in the shrine city of Mashhad, Khamenei had a modest upbringing. His religious schoo...