OPINION
When a Tyrant Dies, Let the Truth Be Loud
Larry O'Connor | Mar 01, 2026
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader for more than three decades, is dead at 86.
Within hours, major American newspapers did what they often do when a powerful authoritarian dies. They reached first for tone and texture. One headline described him as the “hard-line cleric who made Iran a regional power.” Another obituary noted his "bushy beard", fondness for Persian poetry and classic Western novels.
At Townhall, we are not interested in literary garnish.
Ali Khamenei was not simply a “hard-liner.” He was the central figure in a theocratic regime that brutalized its own citizens, exported terrorism, and made hostility toward the United States and our allies a governing principle.
His regime armed proxies whose explosives tore through American armored vehicles in Iraq. The consequences were measured in folded flags and grieving families. That record belongs to him.
The hands of his corpse are permanently stained with innocent American blood.
If we are going to write honestly about his life, we begin with the victims.
During Khamenei’s tenure, student protesters were shot and jailed. Demonstrations in 1999, the Green Movement in 2009, nationwide unrest in 2017 and 2019, and the uprising that followed the death of Mahsa Amini were all met with force. Women were beaten and imprisoned for defying compulsory veiling laws. Dissidents disappeared into prisons such as Evin, where torture has been widely documented. Religious minorities, including Baha’is and Christians, faced systematic persecution.
This was not an incidental feature of his rule worthy of merely a footnote in the New York Times. It was the system he relied upon for total theocratic control.
Yes, Iran "expanded its regional influence" under Khamenei. That influence came through Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shiite militias in Iraq, direct support for Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and backing for the Houthis in Yemen. It came through weapons, training, financing, and a strategy of proxy warfare that destabilized neighbors and threatened American interests.
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READ MORE: https://townhall.com/columnists/larryoconnor/2026/03/01/when-a-tyrant-dies-let-the-truth-be-loud-n2672098
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