Iranian supreme leader Khameni face pressure from home

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has crushed unrest and survived foreign pressure before but, with his envoys racing to avert threatened American airstrikes through ongoing talks, Iran's Supreme Leader faces the gravest crisis of his 36-year rule.



An embittered population toils under a sanctions-hit economy.



Huge protests in January were crushed at a cost of thousands of lives. Israeli and U.S. strikes last year smashed prized nuclear and missile facilities.



Iran's regional policy lies in tatters, with old allies and proxies weakened or gone.



With the risk of war hanging over the Middle East, the 86-year-old's fierce devotion to the Islamic Republic, his implacable hostility to the West and his ⁠record of guile in spinning out negotiations will shape the fate of the region.



Already this year, he has ordered the deadliest crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, saying protesters "should be put in their place" before security ​forces opened fire on demonstrators chanting "Death to the dictator!".



U.S. ‌President Donald Trump's threats to bomb Iran again come only months after Khamenei was forced into hiding last June by strikes that killed several close associates and Revolutionary Guard commanders.