Commanders-in-chief of Iran

Ali Hosseini Khamenei was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the second supreme leader of Iran from 1989 until his assassination in the 2026 Iran war. A member of the Khamenei family, he previously served as the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He held the title Grand Ayatollah, and his tenure as supreme leader, spanning 36 years and six months, made him the longest-serving head of state in West Asia at the time of his death.

Ruhollah Mostafavi Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian political revolutionary and Shia cleric who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the leader of the Iranian Revolution, which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ended the Pahlavi era, and transformed the country into an Islamic republic. As supreme leader, he implemented policies that came to be known as Khomeinism.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the last Shah of Iran from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution led by Ruhollah Khomeini, which abolished the Iranian monarchy to establish the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1967, he took the title Shahanshah, and held several others, including Aryamehr and Bozorg Arteshtaran. He was the second and last ruling monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty.

Reza Shah Pahlavi was Shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941 and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty. Originally an army officer, he became a politician, serving as minister of war and prime minister of Iran, and was elected shah following the deposition of Ahmad Shah, the last monarch of the Qajar dynasty.

Mohammad Mosaddegh was an Iranian politician, author and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 16th Majlis. He was elected to the Iranian parliament in 1923 and served through a contentious 1952 election into the 17th Iranian Majlis, until his government was overthrown in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état aided by the intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom (MI6) and the United States (CIA), led by Kermit Roosevelt Jr. As prime minister, he implemented policies that came to be known as Mosaddeghism.

Iranian politician and economist, and Iran's first President (1933–2021)