Iran’s Mediocre Supreme Leader

Where does Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stand in religious terms? The last time a front-page “austere religious scholar” in the world of Iranian influence was eliminated, it was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019. A Sunni and a comparatively minor figure, Baghdadi wasn’t canonically incorrect on the laws of seventh-century Medina, but global fallout from his liquidation was nil.