A Leader Who Is an Army Himself: Inside Ayatollah Khamenei’s Invisible War Room

According to Saed News, political analyst Mehdi Jahantighi writes on ISNA that no figure in Shia history combines theological authority with military acumen as Khamenei does. From his tenure as head of the Supreme Defence Council during the eight‑year Iran–Iraq War to his uninterrupted leadership of the Armed Forces, the Supreme Leader has never relinquished direct oversight of Iran’s security apparatus.

Over the past three decades, Iran has confronted classic warfare, economic sieges, cyber and cognitive campaigns, and hybrid conflicts. Throughout each, Khamenei’s command centre—initially a physical nerve‑centre in Tehran—has evolved into a dispersed network spanning battlegrounds from Iraq and Lebanon to Palestine and Yemen. Jahantighi argues that this hybrid architecture allows Iran to marshal local proxies while retaining centralised strategic control.

During the recent 12‑day Israeli offensive, Khamenei’s war room was swiftly reactivated. Within hours, Iran recalibrated its battle plans, launched coordinated strikes on land and at sea, and drafted daily scenarios for next‑phase operations. “Decisions of this magnitude could not have been executed without his direct guidance,” Jahantighi notes.

Even public mourning ceremonies at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Hussainiya have doubled as stages to broadcast resolve—reinforcing that every mass gathering becomes a node in Khamenei’s strategic lattice. Israeli officials reportedly fret that whether he appears in person or remains unseen, his influence on the field is undiminished.

In redefining the very notion of command, Ayatollah Khamenei has become, as Jahantighi puts it, “an army unto himself” whose enduring presence alone compels adversaries to rethink their approach to a “strong Iran.”