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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/opinion/iran-khamenei-killed-what-next.html
A Tyrant Falls in Iran
(New York Times) Editorial - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei governed Iran with the vigilance and brutality of an autocrat convinced that his own people and the world's superpower sought to unseat him - and in the end, they did. His reign has come to a close, cementing a lost half-century for his nation. Let us be clear: No one should mourn the death of a dictator who spent decades inflicting misery and bloodshed. Ascending to power in 1989, Ayatollah Khamenei organized his existence around an obsession with the West. As a ruler, he squelched dissent and expanded the intelligence apparatus of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to repress his own people. He impoverished his citizens to bankroll foreign interventions and a nuclear program that brought Iran only isolation. When faced with citizens' protests, he answered with force, including the slaughter of thousands earlier this year.