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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Elena Becatoros and Bassem Mroue

From Karachi to Beirut, Khamenei’s death sends shockwaves across the Shiite world

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Ayatollah Khamenei Iran Burcu Ozcelik Beirut KARACHI Iraq Israel Hezbollah Lebanon
APTOPIX Iraq Iran US Israel - (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes over the weekend did not just shake Iran. It has reverberated across the Shiite Muslim world, raising the specter of a broader backlash in the Middle East and beyond.

For the Muslim world’s Shiite minority, 86-year-old Khamenei was more than just Iran’s theocratic ruler since 1989. He was also one of their most prominent religious and political figures. His death at the hands of a joint U.S.-Israeli operation has stoked fury across the Shiite world.

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