Farnaz Fassihi

In one of his notorious quotes, he said, the reason Hamas now has rockets and can attack Israel is because of us.

We enabled them to go from rocks and arrows to missiles and guns with our training and with our funding.

And of course, the thing that he is known for is his role in domestic repression.

Mr. Khamenei had absolute power.

He is known for never giving an inch to calls for reform.

Sidelining political opponents,

This government won't allow us to say what we want.

Jailing, dissidents.

calling for brutal and lethal crackdowns on protesters.

These are some of the most recent images coming out of Iran.

The regime cut off the internet in Iran on the 8th of January, hoping to prevent coverage of its crackdown on protesters.

Including the recent wave in January where he personally ordered the shoot to kill order.

That we think killed thousands.

Exactly.

He ordered security forces to open fire on unarmed protesters with lethal force.

And as a result, over three days, a massacre happened because Mr. Khamenei did not tolerate dissent and wanted to suppress any cause of change.

This was a surprise, Michael.

Nobody thought that they would find Mr. Khamenei above ground and in his compound during a time where U.S.

military had amassed warships and fighter planes all around Iran.

But at the end, he was sitting in his office at 9.30 a.m.