Backlash erupted after The New York Times described Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a “Hard-Line Cleric Who Made Iran a Regional Power.” Critics across the political spectrum challenged the framing following confirmation of Khamenei’s death at age 86.
The Times’ headline read, “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hard-Line Cleric Who Made Iran a Regional Power, Is Dead at 86.” Its obituary further described him as “avuncular and magnanimous.” The piece stated, “With his spectacles, Palestinian kaffiyeh, long robes and silver beard, Ayatollah Khamenei cast himself as a religious scholar as well as a writer and translator of works on Islam. He affected an avuncular and magnanimous aloofness, running the country from a perch above the jousting of daily politics.”
Reaction was swift. Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) offered his own version of the headline. Fox News contributor Joe Concha wrote, “I give up…” Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen responded, “You can’t be serious.” Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton posted “mostly peaceful,” referencing prior media coverage of unrest in 2020. News Nation’s Batya Ungar-Sargon wrote, “You don’t have the media enough.” Heritage Foundation fellow Jason Bedrick added, “The NYT is garbage.”
The Times defended its reporting on X, stating, “The Times’s obituaries report and reflect lives in full, illuminating why, in our judgment, they were significant. We fairly and accurately include the newsworthy details of each life and death, and don’t treat them dishonestly to score points like you’re trying to do here.”
The Washington Post also faced criticism for describing Khamenei as “avuncular” with an “easy smile,” even while noting his opposition to reforms and U.S. rapprochement.
